In Search Of Opposition Unity, Nitish Kumar Creating Challenges For Himself

Nitish Kumar is already facing a blowback for the poor implementations of prohibition, sand mining and rising incidents of crime.

PATNA: After the grand success of the 15 parties meeting in Patna, the morale of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and leaders of the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) is very high but at the same time Nitish Kumar is facing some challenges on the ground thanks to his own decisions which may turn into self goals on his own turf. Nitish Kumar allowed TET job aspirants from other states to participate in the recruitment of teachers in Bihar. His decision became problematic after Bihar education minister Prof Chandharsheker claimed that the TET aspirants of Bihar have lesser knowledge of Math, Physics, Chemistry and English than those from other states.

Following this decision of the Nitish Kumar government, there was outrage in the state with the TET aspirants hitting the roads in Patna. The Bihar Primary Youth Teachers Association has decided to gherao the Vidhan Sabha during its monsoon session starting July 10. They have appealed for a Maha Andolan (great revolution) in Bihar following Nitish Kumar's decision which changed the domicile policy pertaining to the recruitment of 1.70 lakh teachers in the state. Earlier, the 1.70 lakh posts were kept only for the Bihar origin CTET and BTET pass students. Now, the students of other states who have passed CTET or BTET can also be eligible for the job.

Thousands of job aspirants came out on the streets of Patna on Saturday and burnt effigies of NItish Kumar. They have demanded a roll back of the decision. “The youths of Bihar are already facing job scarcity and the fresh move of Nitish Kumar will give their jobs to the students from other states. This is not happening in other states then why is the Bihar government doing it. Nitish Kumar will not be allowed to achieve his national political ambition at the cost of our future,” said Rahul Kumar, an agitating student.

The students blocked some areas of the city during the protest on Saturday. The leaders of the Mahagathbandhan government are facing an extremely tough situation. When asked about the domicile policy of the Nitish Kumar government, Uday Narayan Chaudhary,RJD MLA and senior lawmaker, became angry and diverted the question asked by a reporter in his office on Friday. He argued with the media persons.

Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav had promised to provide 10 lakh jobs during the 2020 assembly election. Now, people are asking whether those jobs are for the students of Bihar or of other states? Nitish Kumar also announced 20 lakh jobs during his Independence Day speech in Patna last year;, the students are asking whether that promise was for the unemployed youths of Bihar or of other states?.

If the opposition parties asked such questions, the ruling parties generally would not bother about it but if the common people started asking such questions, it would be worrying for the leaders of the ruling combine. The BJP leaders are targeting Nitish Kumar because he is taking meetings of 45 MLAs, 23 MLCs and 16 MPs of the Lok Sabha in fear of a stampede which is on the cards in the JD-U. The leaders of the JD-U however said that it was just a routine meeting where the chief minister wants to know the ground reality and the mood of the voters.

Nitish Kumar is already facing a blowback for the poor implementations of prohibition, sand mining and rising incidents of crime. Nitish Kumar is known for the politics of Lav-Kush (Kurmi-Kushwaha) equation which is anti-Yadav in Bihar. Yadav is a vote bank of Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Muslims also trust the RJD. The Muslim community does not trust Nitish Kumar wholeheartedly due to his earlier relationship with the BJP although he has not allowed any major communal violence in the state during his tenure. Even the communal violence in Sasaram and Biharsharif during Ramnavami this year was controlled within a few days.

However, there is also a buzz in the political circles of Bihar that whenever Nitish Kumar takes one to one meetings with his legislators, he takes big decisions after a few days. Last time, he had taken the meeting in June 2022 and he executed his Paltimar programme in August. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken the names of several leaders for their alleged involvement in scams but had not taken the name of Nitish Kumar. BJP leader Sushil Modi also met him recently in Raj Bhavan which is a hot topic as well.