The former French President, Charles de Gaulle once proposed that ‘in politics it is necessary either to betray one’s country or the electorate’. Moving a step ahead, various Indian politicians have started to stoop even lower. The democratic system can be said to be corrupted to such a level that the leaders have lost ‘ethical and moral’ high ground. Quotes like ‘ऐसा कोई सगा नहीं, जिसे नीतीश ने ठगा नहीं’ have become synonymous to the political milieu of Bihar, with the sitting Chief Minister getting accused of betrayal on a daily basis.
Nitish Kumar coronated as ‘Maha Thug’
Recently, the Leader of Opposition of Bihar legislature, Vijay Kumar Sinha called the sitting Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar a ‘thug’ who has mastered the art of cheating people and betraying his fellow mates. Earlier, the infamous RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, had for decades reprimanded the incumbent CM, for his ‘paltu politics’ of betraying allies for political gains.
The four-decade-long political career of Nitish Kumar is full of examples of sensing the opportunity and making effective bets as per the dynamics of the circumstances. Owing to which the opponents have bestowed him with titles of ‘Kursi Kumar’ and ‘Paltu Chacha’ of ‘politics’ for his inherent nature of frequent changing of sides.
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How did Nitish earn the title of ‘Paltu Chacha’?
Nitish Kumar reached the helm of power by getting Bihar rid of ‘Lalu-Rabri’ hegemony. However, at the start of his political career, after he was elected as the MLA in 1985 from Harnaut seat of Nalanda, Nitish developed close ties with Lalu. Soon, Nitish won his first Lok Sabha election in 1989 from Barh seat, with Lalu’s support. It was a time in history when Nitish used to call himself Lalu’s younger brother. Later, owing to his political ambitions, he broke all ties with Janata Dal and formed Samata Party.
Later, he joined hands with BJP in 1998 and became the biggest critic of Lalu in Bihar. Following which he became the Chief Minister of Bihar for a few days and subsequently became the railway minister at the Centre. However, he was still not satisfied and merged his Samta Party with the JDU. Following which, he was a part of NDA and was twice elected to power in Bihar with the help of BJP.
Evidently, in 2013 he broke ties with BJP over the appointment of Narendra Modi as the campaign committee chairman of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, after a crushing defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he joined hands with arch-rival RJD in 2015. But, owing to his ‘paltu nature’, he once again betrayed Lalu and went back to BJP-NDA in 2017. Later, in 2022 he again took a ‘180-degree turn’ and reunited with RJD.
This time the incumbent CM gave a new slogan to his ‘love hate relation’ with RJD by boosting the ‘Chacha-Bhatija’ alliance.
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‘Chacha-Bhatija’ façade of Nitish
The four-decade long political career of Nitish had been full of sloganeering and false promises. The ‘Chacha-Bhatija’ slogans and claims of Nitish adds to a long list of his love-hate relation with fellow politicians. Earlier, it was claimed that Prashant Kishore would be the next heir of ‘Nitish’s legacy in Bihar’. But the CM ditched the former, at the first conducive opportunity, rebuffing all claims of Kishore that ‘equated Nitish as Pitatulya’.
On similar lines, R. P. Singh, another ardent follower of Nitish, was dumped owing to the betrayal of the CM. The next in line to fall was Upendra Kushwaha, who was denied a berth in the Mahagathbandhan Cabinet.
The most pertinent question that arises after going through the long list of betrayal would be ‘How can Tejashwi Yadav expect loyalty from Chacha Nitish?’
That is to say, Nitish Kumar, who is at present riding on the dream of national politics, has recently declared Tejashwi Yadav, his deputy in the cabinet as his prospective heir. But, owing to the inherent nature of Nitish, the prospects of the promise to materialize are quite low.
Nitish Kumar, who is on the verge of political ousting, has played his last bet on the Mahagathbandhan and shown Tejashwi the dream of ‘CM in waiting’. But, if the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections do not materialize as per plans, Bhatija-Tejashwi is surely going to meet the same betrayal which his father once witnessed at the hand of Nitish Kumar. Instead of going with the flow, Bhatija-Tejashwi should learn from those in the past and be cautious about his Chacha-Nitish.
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