Opposition’s India alliance has suffered a major blow due to Nitish Kumar’s moves.

Now it is almost certain that the conditions of taking Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi lightly by the opposition parties and their leaders can be very heavy for them. Secondly, if BJP decides to do something in Indian politics, it definitely completes it. The changing equation of power in Bihar is indicative of this. Amidst the ongoing political turmoil in Bihar, RJD Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Ashfaq has made a big announcement and finally said that now the relationship between JDU and RJD has broken. There are strong indications that Chief Minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar has decided to separate from RJD. If this happens, not only will the Grand Alliance government fall in Bihar but there will also be cracks in the India Grand Alliance. It is also possible that after this Nitish can once again form the government in Bihar with the help of BJP. In view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, this big move of BJP’s strategy seems to be successful. However, this rift was brewing internally between BJP and JDU leader Nitish Kumar for some time. The first concrete indication of this came from his thanks to first the BJP government and then Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the announcement of giving Bharat Ratna to Jananayak Karpuri Thakur. The second big sign came in the form of Nitish Kumar taunting at the function organized on the occasion of the hundredth birth anniversary of Karpoori Thakur that nowadays many people are busy in promoting their family members only. This was considered a direct attack on Lalu Prasad Yadav, with whose party he is running the government in Bihar.

After this entire incident, a deep rift has formed between RJD and JDU. Nitish’s talks with Lalu-Tejashwi are going on. At the same time, the allies of the Grand Alliance are also in trouble. Because it has been Nitish Kumar who has made efforts to unite the scattered opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP. It was Nitish Kumar who had organized a grand gathering of opposition parties in Patna in June last year. It was on his initiative that all the opposition parties, despite their differences, agreed to come together on one platform so that a common opposition could field candidates on as many seats as possible against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. But when the elections are just around the corner, it is Nitish Kumar who is going to change sides. The JDU Chief, who has been building the fabric of opposition unity by joining every straw, is himself going to walk away from the alliance at the last moment. This is a big blow to the opposition India alliance.

Now only two-two and a half months are left for the Lok Sabha elections. BJP wants to put Narendra Modi on the throne of power for the third time under any circumstances. Riding on the Hindutva wave generated by the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, BJP is not lagging behind in worshiping caste. It has been announced to give Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur. A plan to launch a big campaign to woo Dalits has also been prepared. On the other hand, the opposition, especially its biggest alliance India, is eyeing to stop Modi’s victory chariot at any cost. But how will India, which is almost broken and disintegrated, be able to stop the Modi juggernaut? Because even before the Lok Sabha elections, the Indian alliance has started panting. Nitish Kumar changing sides is like the charioteer changing sides just before the war starts. Not only Nitish of the alliance, but Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal are also winking at the Congress, due to which the alliance does not seem to be moving forward. There is not only a question mark on the future of the alliance, it has been eclipsed. BJP will directly benefit from the turmoil and changing political equations in Bihar. There are 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. If Nitish Kumar joins BJP and becomes a part of NDA alliance, then the chances of NDA candidates winning most of these Lok Sabha seats will increase unexpectedly. Due to this role of Nitish in Bihar, he was considered to have the most important role in the India alliance. This entire effort to create an alliance between the opposition parties and field a common candidate against the NDA on as many seats as possible had started on the initiative of Nitish Kumar. In such a situation, clouds of doubt are looming over how and to what extent this process will progress after his departure.

When policy starts disappearing in politics, scenes of formation and disintegration of mismatched alliances are seen and, more or less, all political parties are equally responsible for this evil. If seen, everyone’s eyes are on the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, where considering the role of Bihar with 40 seats as important, all the tricks are being played there. Only the future will tell how much change the new political equation will bring in Bihar. In such a situation, speculations were being made for a long time that Nitish Kumar can join hands with BJP at any time. Anyway, now Nitish’s image has become that of an opportunistic leader. In fact, this is the extent of opportunism and opportunism which should be countered in politics. In fact, it is the biggest misfortune of Bihar that the casteist and family based politics in this state has deprived the people of this state of their fundamental rights and has made the people of this state the poorest people of India. While the contribution of Biharis to the overall development of India is no less, the most hardworking and intellectual people come from here. But the blackness of corrupt politics has been blurring the washed-out history of this place. The greed for power and corruption in politics here has been destroying democratic values. Whereas authenticity and principledness are a crown in the political field and inauthenticity and opportunism are synonymous with death. There is a need that when we address the public in the field of politics, we should have the badge of authenticity on our chest. Don’t keep it at home. In the field of politics, our kurta should be Kabir’s chador. The countdown for the grand alliance formed by Nitish Babu had started as soon as it was formed. Now the charioteer himself is changing his stance.

The sound of the first Lok Sabha elections of the golden period of independence is now clearly being heard. All the political parties of India are now in full swing and each major political party is busy arranging its pieces in the electoral chessboard. Some scattered parties may have come under the umbrella of India Alliance by imposing Fevicall, but are now scattered on seat distribution and other issues. Some parties were calling change attractive and necessary to reach power, while leaders of some major parties were seeing themselves on the Prime Minister’s chair, but everyone’s dreams were eclipsed. The opposition parties may be trying their best to oust the BJP from power, but the BJP has shown them their land even before the elections. BJP is moving forward with full confidence and intensity, it is implementing its strategies with totality and concentration in the states where the challenges for it are more intense, Bihar was also one of them. The biggest specialty of BJP is that it is expert in understanding the reasons of each of its challenges in great depth and laying out the mathematics to convert challenges into possibilities.

-Lalit Garg

(The author is a senior journalist and columnist)