The 'invaluable' team member

A recent conversation with a Dalit member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar revealed new truths about the upcoming Assembly poll in the state.

- ADITI PHADNIS

The MLA, from the Samastipur region, is a mathematician who was also a full-time pracharak in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) till his service was sought by the BJP to fight the panchayat and later the 2020 Assembly elections. He is an influential Dalit voice in the BJP.

"We really respect Nitishji (Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar): Not just for his commitment to social justice but also for the way he lives. He has no family. In all these years, there have been no corruption charges against him. Everything he's had, he's given to Bihar. In this aspect, he represents the values we in the RSS have been taught," he said, about the man who is leading his party, the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), in fighting what could be his last election.

Now it is all jibes about his chameleon-like politics and a loosening grip over the administration. But there was a time Nitish had the BJP trembling in the state. Veterans recall that in 2006 the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) declared that singing "Vande Mataram" (the lyric occurs in a 19th century Bengali novel that has disparaging remarks about Muslims) must be made compulsory in government-run schools. Nitish refused to implement this in Bihar, though his party was part of the NDA.