RSS is BJP's Supreme Court, Says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

NEW DELHI: The tension from Bihar is palpable even in political circles in Delhi as the conversation in all party offices and political homes centres around the north Indian state going to the polls next month. Two significant developments have dented the BJP campaign slightly, although of course both the two main groupings led by the Janata Dal(U) on the one side and the BJP on the other are currently in a ‘neck to neck’ race for the posts.

One are the remarks by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on reservations, that have been widely interpreted as being against reservation for the most backward sections of society. Pressing home on this Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched a blistering attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party maintaining that the RSS was the BJP’s Supreme Court. "It is clear that he (Bhagwat) feels the current policy of reservation is not right and wants some other system," he said, while reading out excerpts of the RSS chief's interview to the organisation's mouthpiece 'Organiser',

"The BJP has a government at the Centre, which has repeatedly claimed that they are proud to be Swayamsevaks.RSS view is final. Whatever BJP might say, it has no meaning. Like anything is decided by the Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, it is final and there is nothing after that. The same way in RSS, if RSS chief says something then BJP has no say.The BJP is a political outfit of RSS and Swayamsevaks and pracharaks are part of this government. Whatever Bhagwat has said is final and there is no other thought," Kumar said.

The second significant development was a statement by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav that even if his party got more seats than the Janata Dal(U) Nitish Kumar would be the chief minister. “Irrespective of who wins the largest number of seats, Nitish Kumar will be the CM of the grand alliance. Our priority is to ensure that BJP goes back empty-handed from Bihar,” he told the media.

This will go a long way in dispelling a rumour that was being spread fast by vested interests across Bihar, that the RJD leader was looking at getting more seats than the JD(U) and then staking his claim to be the next chief minister. Both the parties in this coalition are contesting 100 seats each, with the visible Yadav-Muslim consolidation taking place behind Lalu Yadav expected to fetch him more seats than the JD(U) where the support base is not so visibly defined. This clarification was made to dispel this rumour, and to make it clear that the coalition was united behind Kumar. Sources said that Lalu Yadav’s son who is in politics is a major influence on his father, and is not keen to rock the Nitish Kumar boat at all at this stage.

The BJP that is more visible through its posters and banners has now rallied around its key slogan, “badaliye sarkar, badaliye Bihar.” Interestingly fissures between the BJP and its allies remain, with the allocation of seats not going down well with the smaller regional parties. As a local journalist from Patna told The Citizen, “it is strange, as the elections approach the problems in the BJP alliance are growing, while the Nitish Kumar coalition partners are all coming together.” Another sign of the last was the decision by both the RJD and the Congress to authorise the Chief Minister to the candidates for the polls, including theirs.