After the meeting of 20 political parties in Patna, the stature of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has increased at the national level. Apart from this, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is once again making a strong comeback in politics.
The way these two leaders played the role of facilitators in the meeting is not a good sign for the BJP in Bihar and the country. Both these leaders have a unique style of connecting with the people of the state. This was seen in the 2015 assembly elections, when he stopped Narendra Modi’s victory chariot in Bihar.
The situation is even worse for the BJP in 2024, as the anti-incumbency wave is also at its peak. The BJP government at the Center has been facing a lot of criticism for failing to fulfill the promises made in 2014. In such a situation, the pair of Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar will make him a strong opponent for the BJP.
It was Nitish Kumar who played an important role in inviting leaders of various political parties to visit Patna on his invitation. This also proved that Nitish Kumar has the highest acceptability among various political parties. His image is clean and there is no legal or corruption charge against him. He was also declared the convenor of these parties, which means he will play the role of a mediator during seat-sharing talks between two or more parties for the Lok Sabha elections.
After the stupendous success of the Patna meeting, JD-U MLA Shalini Mishra uploaded a post on social media, with Nitish Kumar’s picture and the slogan Desh Mange Nitish.
Building construction minister in Bihar government, Ashok Chaudhary said, behind every mass movement, there is a strong person’s hand. Bihar has been witness to many mass movements in the past, which shook the ruling parties in the country.
Chaudhary said, it is necessary to have a strong opposition in a democracy and this is possible with the efforts of Nitish Kumar.
JD-U national president Lalan Singh said, JP Nadda and Amit Shah have nothing left to say to us. So, they talk of Congress and Shiv Sena coming on the same platform where we are. This is an irresponsible move.
Singh said, when we were fighting during the Emergency in 1975, it was a fight against the situation at that time and not against any government. In the present phase the situation is worse than emergency. At that time, press was free but now press is under their control, all constitutional institutions are under their control. They have taken control over the management of media organisations. Therefore, democracy is in danger today. BJP is destroying democracy and asking us to remember Emergency.
He said, if someone talks against you (Centre), CBI, ED, Income Tax target them. This was not the case during the Emergency when Indira Gandhi used these constitutional institutions. The Center is threatening the people and freedom of the country. Singh said that the country is in danger and therefore we are fighting this situation and the Congress party is with us.
Lalan Singh reacting to Amit Shah’s statement said, he is a prophet and if he has predicted that BJP will win more than 300 seats and Modi ji will form the government in the country then it means that Modi ji is losing the election. When the 2015 assembly elections were being held in Bihar, he stayed here for three months and predicted till 10.30 am on the day of counting that the BJP would form the government. What was the result, BJP won only 53 seats. When he went to West Bengal, he predicted the formation of his government with two-thirds of the mandate. His party was fighting against Mamta Didi, what happened there? He made the same prediction in Himachal and Karnataka and what were the results? If he is claiming that Modi ji will form the government again by winning 300 seats, then it means that he is losing the election.
He said, before the meeting of opposition unity started in Patna, BJP leaders spread confusion as to who would come on Friday and who would not. Now, you have seen all political parties with anti-BJP-RSS ideology gathered on one platform. We believe that the meeting was successful beyond our expectations. BJP leaders are now assuming that his departure is near and they are feeling uneasy.
RJD spokesperson Chittaranjan Gagan said, the foundation of BJP-free India was laid in the Patna meeting.
He said, we have a simple formula to reduce the one-on-one fight and the division of votes. We have more percentage of votes than BJP. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he got only 37 per cent votes, which means there is an anti-saffron trend among the voters. ( PLC/GT )
