Anand Bihar Terminal

Sensing the gravity of the post-Pahalgam situation Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while making his first public appearance at Jhanjharpur in Madhubani district after the April 22 mayhem, apparently avoidedpoliticizing the incident, yet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge questioned his absence from the all-party meeting in Delhi to attend what he called an election rally in Bihar. However, what sounded somewhat unusual is that the Prime Minister chose Madhubani, a district having a substantial Maithil Brahmin population, bordering Nepal and not Jammu and Kashmir to warn Pakistan. As the timing and location of message are very important, the choice of Bihar has certainly diluted its significance. He reiterated his resolve to fight terrorism during his Man Ki Baat on April 27 too. On the other hand, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar not only chose the occasion to target the previous Lalu-Rabri regime but came out with a fantastic statement against his own party leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias Lallan Singh, who incidentally is Panchayati Raj minister in the Modi cabinet. Pointing out towards Lallan, who was also sharing the dais, Nitish said that it was he who as the national president of Janata Dal (United) decided to join hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal in August 2022. The decision to return to the National Democratic Alliance fold came only when it was observed by his party that the RJD people were playing mischief (sab gadbad kiya).The chief minister’s statement took everyone by complete surprise as Modi was seen speaking to Lallan while Nitish was busy delivering his speech. He once again begged before the crowd that he would notcommit such mistake in the future—‘idhar udhar nahin jayen gey’. What about previous U-Turns While the entire atmosphere in India was sombre after the barbaric massacre of 26 innocent souls Nitish indulged in loose talks. He may be forgiven for attacking the opposition—though this was not theappropriate moment—what is more tragic is that he for the first time before the presence of Prime Minister of the country passed on the blame for one of his U-turns on Lallan. Needless to suggest, everyone knows that nothing moves in Janata Dal (United) without the consent of Nitish. What Nitish could not explain is as to who was responsible for the sudden sacking of 11 Bharatiya Janata Party ministers from his cabinet on June 16, 2013 and the snapping of 17-years long relationshipwith the saffron party. And who was responsible for the cancellation of the dinner hosted for the BJP bigwigs on June 12, 2010 in Patna when the latter were holding their national executive meeting. And who should take the blame for making Jitan Ram Manjhi the chief minister and then nine months later unceremoniously kicking him out. Not to mention about joining hands with Lalu Prasad’s RJD and Congress ahead of 2015 Assembly election. Timing of Madhubani function Notwithstanding Nitish’s absurdity in Madhubani, there is no dearth of independent political analysts who are questioning the timing of the function less than 48 hours of the tragedy in Kashmir. There isno denying the fact that the April 24 National Panchayati Raj Day function was planned much before the Pahalgam carnage, yet if the Prime Minister could cut short his trip to Saudi Arabia and return late onApril 22 itself, the Madhubani show could have been curtailed. Or the PM could have just briefly addressed the function through video-conferencing without coming all the way to the place to distributeprizes and hand over the keys of houses to beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. New trains too could have been flagged off from Delhi and projects too inaugurated from the national capital. Theseare the questions the opposition leaders are asking as Modi was not present in the all important meeting with them. Modi spoke for about 25 minutes—short according to his standard. No doubt he did not drag the name of opposition in his speech, yet he explained in detail the achievements of his government. He congratulated Nitish for empowering women in the local civic bodies by fixing 50% reservation for them. Only in the last five minutes he spoke for the first time on Pahalgam bloodbath and warned Pakistan of the dire consequences. In between he chose to speak in English which was obviously a message for theforeign leaders and audience and not the crowd in the venue. Anyway, unlike on several occasions in the past his speech did not rake up any controversy nor was the opposition in mood to make it into a bigger political issue—though they flayed the government for theserious security lapses. Butt of a joke But Nitish, who has become a butt of joke, provided an opportunity to the opposition to attack him. The passing of blame on Lallan has raised the fear in the party’s rank and file whether he would come outwith more outlandish utterances during the election campaign. A day before Madhubani’s function, Bihar’s capital Patna for the first time witnessed an air-show in which nine Indian Air Force aircraft took part. This event was organized on the birthday of Veer Kuer Singh, who fought against the British during the war of independence in 1857. The day is observed as Shaurya Diwas in Bihar. The chief guest was CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Samrat Chaudhary was present. Earlier media reports had suggested that defence minister Rajnath Singh was also supposed to attend, but could not make it following the incident in Kashmir. The presence of the two top leaders of the NDA just 18 hours after the Pahalgam barbarity came under attack from different quarters. There is a general perception that the air show—actually an exercise—must have gone as a routine matter of the IAF, but the CM and deputy CM should have cancelled their programmes as a mark of respect for the departed souls. The grandeur with which it was celebrated, rather than observed, on that day took many by surprise. However, the grapevine has it that the whole event was organized keeping in mind the Rajput votes in the state.

Anand Bihar Terminal

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