Utpal Bhaskar: BJP's saviour in Bihar

BACKSTAGE

In an interview in 1998, Sushil Kumar Modi had announced that "the BJP and the Samata Party will vanquish Lalu Prasad in Bihar." What seemed to be rhetoric at that time has now come true. Modi, an OBC (Vaishya community) by caste, assumed charge as the deputy chief minister, with the BJP bagging 55 seats in the Bihar Assembly elections.

Modi, like Lalu and Nitish Kumar, is a product of the JP movement. He was general secretary of Patna University student union from 1973 to 1977, when former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad was its president. While Lalu studied law at Patna Law College, Modi was a student of chemistry at Patna Science College. He was good in academics, and, in fact, finished second in Patna University's BSc exams.

Lalu and Modi even shared a cell during the emergency. Modi was arrested five times during the emergency and was confined to prison for a total period of 24 months. He rose to become the all-India general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (AVBP), the student's wing of the BJP, from 1983 to 1986. He was also sent to Purnea (near the Indo-Bangladesh border) by the ABVP as an observer to check on the precise nature of infiltration from Bangladesh.

Media-friendly Modi has been a three-time member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2004. He became the secretary of the BJP in 1995 and remained the leader of opposition in the state legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2004. He was a minister for parliamentary affairs in the Bihar government, sworn-in under Nitish Kumar in 2000 for a brief period. He moved to the Centre after being elected as an MP from Bhagalpur in 2004, winning by over 100,000 votes.

Modi's close association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is what prompted Lalu to observe that he was not worried about Kumar but the challenge that the BJP will pose to Bihar. Lalu's worries may not be misplaced. This is the first time the BJP has come to occupy the No. 2 position in the state and political commentators recognise that this election is remarkable not just because it replaced Lalu, but because it brought home forcefully, the speed with which the BJP is putting down its roots in a state where it had the most diluted presence.

It is up to Modi "" who has no particular fondness for the Vishva Hindu Parishad "" to ensure the BJP remains as civilised in Bihar as it has been all these years. He is the last of that breed of "political" sanghis. He has nurtured a non-controversial image while remaining in the RSS. He's a good orator and prepares his subject well in advance. He likes to pack a punch in his speeches by giving importance to the legalities involved. In an apparent deviation from the RSS image, he married a Christian, Jessie George in 1986.