WHY NITISH KUMAR STILL RULES BIHAR’S CHESSBOARD

It was a bright morning towards the end of 2009. Vapours were visible from our cups filled with hot tea at our hotel. We were sitting with a close confidant of Nitish Kumar. I asked him what was the secret of his leader's success? He replied, “on the chessboard of politics Nitish babu, like a knight, can move two and half paces forward and backward simultaneously. His right hand is unaware of what his left hand is about to do?’

- SHASHI SHEKHAR

Speaking candidly he insisted even those closest to Nitish don’t know what he will do the next moment. “Nitish babu maintains political decency and never launches any personal attacks on his opponents. This is the reason his friends are wary and foes are expectant. Today he will definitely have a couple of people in the opposite camp as a need may arise to align with them in the future. He believes in Chanakya’s axiom that in politics or in life, there are no permanent friends or foes”.

Now that he’s ready to assume power for the 10th time, a question begs an answer. How did a man who could never muster a majority on his own end up being an irreplaceable power pivot in Bihar? How will the future students of political science view the Nitish phenomenon? Let’s go back 31 years.

It was 1994: when Nitish formed Samata Party with the help of firebrand socialist leader George Fernandes. During the 1995 state assembly elections the party declared Nitish as the chief ministerial candidate, but he could only win 7 seats by securing just 7.1% of votes. In 2000, Samata Party improved its tally to 34 seats. In that election the BJP won 67 seats. Nitish did take oath as chief minister but the government barely lasted a week.