Repeat 108 times a day : Nitish Kumar is not to be trusted

I don’t exactly remember which newspaper reported this the other day, but it quoted a source in the BJP saying something like this:

“Sushil Modi wants to ally with Nitish Kumar, but 99% of the Bihar BJP is against it.”

Thank god! I desperately want to believe this. Hope the 99% prevails.

Seriously, the other day when I saw this :

I wanted to puke. Like really hard.

Now, I have been watching politics a long time. I try my best not to fall for “presentism” — the vice of thinking that what is here and now is the most important thing ever. So, whenever I feel like a particular politician is being way too slimy, I try to put it in context of all the other slimy politicians that have come before him. Which is why I rarely feel sickened by the shamelessness of politicians.

But Nitish Kumar is making me sick to my stomach.

Let’s just recap. The BJP invested 17 years into its alliance with JDU. It played a key role in establishing Nitish Kumar as a face of Bihar. In the 17 years of alliance, I cannot think of a single instance where the BJP treated the Samata Party (predecessor of JDU) or the JDU with disrespect. The Samata Party’s George Fernandes was even made the convener of NDA during Vajpayee’s government.

In 2005, the BJP and JDU alliance won a historic victory in Bihar, bringing an end to Lalu’s unbelievably corrupt regime. Every government has its failings, but who can deny that the Nitish Kumar – Sushil Modi team put Bihar on a clear path of progress? As a BJP supporter, I will be forever proud of the key role played by BJP in turning around Bihar.

But how did Nitish Kumar treat the BJP? In 2010, the victory of BJP+JDU in Bihar Assembly was a foregone conclusion.  Everyone knew that the JDU would massively increase its seats in the Assembly. But BJP’s alleged ally Nitish Kumar was playing footsie with the Congress, leaving no stone unturned to make sure that the BJP’s tally did not go up.

But ha! The BJP’s cadre prevailed. The BJP won some 90 of the 101 seats it contested in the 243 member assembly. The BJP’s tremendous 90% strike rate (which was actually higher than the JDU’s strike rate) was the only thing that stopped Nitish Kumar from snapping the alliance in 2010 itself. It left him with no face to cut off an ally which had received an overwhelming public endorsement.

But Nitish continued to crawl through the shadows, looking for an opportunity to destroy the BJP. He thought he had this in 2013, when it became clear that Narendra Modi was going to be the BJP’s PM candidate.

The bottom was reached after the blasts at Hunkar rally on Oct 27, 2013. It happened in his state capital to a visiting Chief Minister. I don’t know if Nitish so much as condemned the blasts. What I do know is that Nitish Kumar smacked his lips and made jokes about it.

Thoo!

Back then, Nitish Kumar was drunk on the flattery he was getting from secular media. And that, incidentally, is a much more powerful intoxicant than any alcohol he is banning in Bihar.

What was the message for Nitish Kumar in the electoral smackdown of 2014? Everyone in Bihar wanted Nitish Kumar to apologize, join hands with Narendra Modi and take the state and the nation forward.

What happened?

Nitish Kumar decided to apologize … to Lalu Yadav. Ok Nitish ji, you won and you are ruling Bihar with your 16% vote.

But a seasoned chameleon cannot stop changing color. What has suddenly happened to you Sushasan babu? How come you are not happy with your new friends Lalu Yadav and the Congress parivar. You betrayed everything you claimed to stand for your whole life to make friends with them. And now suddenly you want to change sides again? Why?

You know : Nitish Kumar didn’t even ask the BJP ministers to resign in 2013. He got the governor to sack them. He couldn’t offer this much courtesy at the end of a 17 year alliance.

What is happening now? Why is your JDU fondly reminiscing about its old times with BJP? Is it because your new friends are engaged in daily scams, which is destroying the image of your government? Missing the BJP, eh?

Nitish Kumar deserves every bit of this. With each passing day and each new scam of Lalu and his sons, Nitish Kumar deserves to lose everything bit by bit, including his title as the savior of Bihar. All the honor and credit that Nitish earned in 8 years of hard work deserves to be washed away. It’s the bitter harvest he should reap for his betrayal.

So, the chameleon Nitish again thinks it’s time to betray his friends. Except he might find that his new friends are a little more cunning than BJP was. I jumped up and applauded when the Congress put Nitish Kumar in a spot by nominating a Dalit daughter of Bihar for President. Nitish Kumar chose to dance with the poisonous cobra called Congress and now the secular establishment is biting him hard.

See the difference between betraying BJP and betraying Congress? The Congress is much more ruthless with its poison.

Everybody knows what Nitish Kumar wants now. He wants the BJP (or threat of BJP alliance) to keep the RJD under control. He might even want BJP to prop him up as Chief Minister and win the next election… and then wait again till time is ripe to betray the BJP one more time.

I never thought I would say this, but I prefer Lalu Yadav to Nitish Kumar. With Lalu Yadav, I know what I am getting.