Assembly elections are still six months away in Bihar but the Nitish Kumar government has clearly swung into poll mode. The government has announced that a branch of the Aligarh Muslim University will be set up on 250 acres of land at Kishanganj; the three decimal land promise made to Mahadalits has been extended to the Paswans, the only Dalit caste left out of the Mahadalit list; Nitish Kumar has joined the burgeoning list of blogger-politicians; he is planning caste-centric rath yatras and also wooing the ?Brahmin devata?. Last but not least, he is gearing up for the ?Biswas Yatra?, to begin on April 28.
Kumar has meticulously planned out his yatra: ?In the mornings, I will visit villages, review welfare schemes at the district headquarters in the afternoons and conduct public interaction in the evenings?.
Alongside the Biswas Yatra, will be several rath yatras taken out by sundry NDA leaders. The kisan rath will set off, and the swablamban rath too, to spread the message of women empowerment.
The proposed AMU branch in Muslim-dominated Kisanganj is particularly significant. Though senior BJP leaders describe it as the Centre?s decision with the Bihar government being only a facilitator, many read it as Nitish?s Muslim appeasement policy. In the last election, the JD(U) had weaned away the Kishanganj seat from the BJP. But the BJP is not in a position to protest against its partner?s bid to court the minority community, given its own precarious footing at the Centre.
Nitish Kumar?s Mahadalit politics has led to his government promising special benefits designed for the newly minted category to the Paswans as well, who remain outside the list. This is a deft move by Nitish to not only mobilise a new constituency for himself among the Dalits by giving it the new ?Mahadalit? label, but also to make some inroads into the group considered to be Ram Vilas Paswan?s vote bank.
With upper caste leaders like Prabhunath Singh and the once favourite Lallan Singh falling out with him, Nitish has made sure he attends all meets organised by the Bhumihars and Brahmins. This is also a bid by the chief minister to allay upper caste fears touched off by the government?s now shelved land redistribution project. At Brahmin meets, the chief minister addresses the community as ?Brahmin devtaa? and as ?Chanakya?, suggesting that as ?Chandragupta?, he will rule according to their will.
Nitish?s decision to begin a blog in election year is a clever attempt to draw the people?s attention to his difference from his predecessor, Lalu Prasad. Lalu, it may be recalled, would often say: ?Yeh IT-YT kya hai?? In Nitish?s Bihar, on the other hand, the state?s RTI call centre ?Jankari? won the IT award last year, and now the chief minister will blog.
As elections draw nearer, Nitish is also likely to up the ante against the Centre. ?The Centre has been silent on our special Kosi package demand Of Rs 15,808 crore,? he said recently. With the annual flood preceding the election, that politics of complaint and reproach will only grow louder.