Bihar is again going to become the axis of opposition unity, but what will the state get from this?

The hard work being done by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for a long time now seems to be paying off. Now it is almost clear that a big and common meeting of the country’s opposition parties is going to be held in Bihar’s capital Patna on June 12. In the same Bihar from where President Mahatma Gandhi ignited the freedom movement, in the same Bihar from where Lok Nayak Jayaprakash started the anti-corruption movement and uprooted the Emergency imposed by the then Indira Gandhi. However, even now this big question remains for Bihar and Biharis as before that what is going to be achieved by this big political event happening on its land.

Is the picture and fate of Bihar going to change? Is Bihar going to change? Will Biharis not have to migrate after this for education and jobs? It can be said that all these questions are redundant in the current political scenario as this entire exercise is being done for the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024. But for the last 33 years, Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar, who have been running the government for the last 33 years together, sometimes separately, sometimes coming together again, are going to join hands with the Congress, which ruled Bihar for 40 years, or rather, the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar. Going to appeal to all the opposition parties of the country that the Congress against which he himself and Lalu Yadav had started their political career, considering the same Congress as their leader, all the parties should prepare for the Lok Sabha elections.

In such a situation, Bihar and Biharis have so much right that the parties trying to change the politics of the country by coming to Patna should tell the people of the state that if their campaign to form the government in Delhi is successful, then it will be beneficial. How will Bihar and the people of Bihar get it? Rather, in a sense, all the parties joining the opposition alliance must tell the people of their respective states that for how many months the government that will be formed if their front wins, and the people of their state will be able to run from that government. What benefits is he going to get?

It would be better if these parties, which have come together in the name of anti-Modi, either follow the example of the Janata Party of 1977 and merge with each other to form a new political party so that a candidate against the BJP can be fielded in each seat. Or, apart from issuing a common manifesto at the national level, clarify your vision by issuing separate manifestos for each state so that the public can be comfortable in choosing.

Santosh Pathak

(The author is a senior journalist and columnist)