The importance of being Nitish

Nitish Kumar's absence from Narendra Modi’s recent rallies in Bihar has raised eyebrows. Archis Mohan’s ground report looks at why it’s still too early to write off the Bihar CM

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PM Narendra Modi (above) at an NDA roadshow in Patna, days before the first phase of polling in Bihar elections. Union minister and JD (U) leader Rajiv Ranjan 'Lalan' Singh represented CM Nitish Kumar at the event

(PHOTO: X/NITISHKUMAR)

Thousands from all corners of Patna and its adjoining districts converged in the heart of Bihar’s capital on Sunday evening, to participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s roadshow.

As men, not an insignificant number of women, and young people cheered for the PM, an unsmiling Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh or ‘Lalan Singh’, who stood beside Modi, had many in the crowd wondering if all wasn’t well within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Singh, a close confidante of Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) President Nitish Kumar, was representing his party at the rally.

On May 12, 2024, when the PM led his first-ever roadshow in Bihar while campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, Kumar had occupied the spot that belonged to Singh on Sunday evening. Modi has had two more roadshows in the interregnum in the state, although unrelated to any immediate election. Modi had taken out a roadshow in Patna on May 29 this year to mark the success of Operation Sindoor where he, unlike Sunday, sat inside a vehicle. As he had told a public meeting at Rohtas district's Bikramganj the next day, Modi said he returned to Bihar after “fulfilling” the promise that he had made in Madhubani on April 24, two days after the Pahalgam terror attack, where he had declared that India will pursue the terrorists and their backers to the ends of the earth. At the PM’s road show in Rohtas, Kumar had stood right next to him.