Nitish Kumar: the new Chanakya of Bihar politics

His opposition to Narendra Modi being projected as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s face in 2014 led to the Janata Dal (United)-BJP split in Bihar. Like Lalu Prasad, Sushil Kumar Modi and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nitish started his career as a student leader in the mid-1960s, with its rising anti-Congressism.

It was the Bihar movement of 1973-74, and under the Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti leading to the Jayaprakash Narayan movement during the Emergency, that catapulted Kumar to the state level.

 

The JD (U) leader was the mascot of National Democratic Alliance’s fight against the 15-year Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi rule in Bihar ending their reign in 2005. He also had a brief seven-day tryst with chief ministership in March 2000 when he was sworn in despite NDA lacking a majority. 

 

Often called Chanakya for his political acumen, engineer-politician Kumar had become the Minister of State for Agriculture in the Vishwanath Pratap Singh government of 1989- 1990 and then Union Minister of Railways in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

 

Despite being instrumental in installation of Prasad as Chief Minister in 1990, Kumar's relations with Prasad came under strain in the years that followed, largely due to authoritative style of functioning of the RJD chief. The two parted company and Kumar along with Fernandes and 12 other MPs quit Janata Dal and formed Samata Party in 1994 and waged a sustained political battle against Lalu-Rabri rule.

 

His developmental agenda is widely believed to be the secret of his success. Kumar’s victory for a second term in November 2010 was due to the impact of his development/welfare policies in the state.