A big test for Opposition unity

Nitish Kumar's efforts in Bihar were hindered by the lack of a grand vision for state-building, but now with the Congress' blessings, he has the opportunity to create something new

The wait was long. But at last, it has happened. A meeting earlier this week between Nitish Kumar (and Tejashwi Yadav in tow) and the Congress leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi — a summit meeting, if you like — bestowed upon Nitish the job of Master Negotiator: The man who has won the confidence of the Congress to bring to one table as many Opposition parties as possible to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2024. If it happens it will be a Vishal Maha Gathbandhan and although the ink is yet to dry on the MoU, the BJP has already begun taking potshots at the effort.

Nitish as Svengali? The mind boggles.

A man who has served as Union minister and six terms as chief minister, and has broken bread with most parties on the Indian horizon at one time or another could not have survived without some extraordinary talent for negotiation and diplomacy. And Nitish’s entire political life has been about negotiation.

He first came to power in 2000 but lasted only seven days as chief minister. It was his second and third terms as chief minister (2005 to 2014) that he really demonstrated his skill at governance. His primary achievement was to bring energy to a broken system. Politically, the governance story dominated. The Remington typewriters left behind by Lalu Prasad’s colleagues and their replacement with desktop computers installed by Nitish became a metaphor for new Bihar, which embraced ICT with exuberance. He had never really had a party: And the lack of a grassroots base worked for him. He did not have to pander to party interests or dole out local patronage and could call on the higher bureaucracy to implement his plans. The bureaucracy responded magnificently — after being emasculated (barring a chosen few) by Lalu, they saw Nitish as a breath of fresh air. In turn, Nitish provided high-quality IAS officers who felt they had been denied the chance to start pushing basic governance.

They succeeded. Take education. Lalu had systematically refused Central funds to hire teachers — because most of those he was hiring would be from the upper castes and this did not suit his politics. Nitish didn’t have this problem. His bureaucrats found, to their pleasant surprise, Nitish encouraging them to push New Delhi for higher budgets because “maangne mein kya harz hai” (what’s the harm in asking). Rajesh Bhushan, his education secretary, sought and got bigger and bigger outlays to help Bihar create the physical infrastructure for education. In this, Nitish gave him the carte blanche. After primary schools, he applied the same vigour to rebuilding secondary schools and launched the free bicycle scheme. In tandem he tried to energise the health sector.

So far, Nitish has not touched any entrenched vested interest. When he decided to tone up law and order, using the dreaded Arms Act to put away gangsters and extortionists, he realised that he needed a political constituency to back his efforts. He had been trying to develop the Mahadalit constituency — the most socially backward in Hindu society with the Pasmanda Muslims added to the list. Now there was new urgency to bring these groups into the political equation.

His law and order reforms started well: People could register FIRs or complain to the district magistrate. But the capacity of the system to respond to these demands was not developed sufficiently. So earlier, you couldn’t complain. Now, you could, but nothing happened after you complained because the system didn’t have the capacity to respond.

After his second term, the absence of a grand vision of state-building slowed him down. He dovetailed the management of education into panchayats and handed them to women. But in relying too much on the bureaucracy, the crafting of a political constituency took a hit. Many of his ideas of governance were hijacked by the Centre. In his third term, for instance, the Saat Nishchay programme, adopted by the Bihar cabinet, included infrastructure creation, tap water to all households, toilets and drainage, etc. The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019. Bihar had already launched it.

He had lots of ideas. But how were they to be implemented without corruption and in a way that they would institutionally endure? He needed to have been expansive, taking more people along with him. One way of doing this would have been to develop a strong state cadre. That never happened. He did not have a party with workers dedicated enough to go from home to home to check if beneficiaries had got what they were promised. So, a lot of capital was created only to be frittered away.

So now, having handed over the reins of the state to Tejashwi (kind of), Nitish is free to create something new. What is more, he now has the blessings of the Congress to do so. He has begun already with outreach to the Left parties. It’s back to his primary skill: Negotiation.