Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram, Paltu Ram & Ram Rajya!

The BJP’s strategy to finish regional parties is also well known. It has weakened the Shiv Sena and the NCP in Maharashtra and is happy at KCR’s defeat in Telangana. It is weighing its options to finish both the YSR Congress and TDP in Andhra Pradesh

Nitish in Sanskrit means Lord of Principles. The name has now become antonymous with Nitish Kumar who keeps changing his political colours shaming even a chameleon. He has even redefined Paltu Ram by making political somersaults to be the CM of Bihar for the ninth term by alternating his alliance with the BJP and Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal.

He had described BJP as a Bada Jhoota Party. He also snapped links with RJD after corruption charges against Lalu. Both the BJP and RJD too kept returning to support Nitish who became the CM for the ninth term. This is the final move, he said, as if to prove right the age-old saying a cat has nine lives!

And talking of Paltu Rams, one is not sure if one can describe Nitish alone with that nickname. Do you remember that none other than Amit Shah himself declared in a public meeting that the NDA’s doors for Nitish have been closed for ever? He said this when the Bihar CM switched sides back to RJD, deserting BJP for the second time. That apart, many State BJP leaders themselves vowed to fight Nitish. Nitish himself said he would prefer to die than rejoin the BJP team.

Right from the Prime Minister down to Woken and Child Welfare Minister Smriti Irani tore Nitish apart for the Bihar’s CM’s “derogatory and crude remarks” in the State legislative assembly about how educated women restrain their husbands during sexual intercourse and how this has led to fall in birth rate. It must be remembered here that Smriti chose to remain silent on a host of cases related to atrocities against women that include the Manipur violence, molestation of female wrestlers and the umpteenth time parole granted to Baba Ram Rahim,a rape and murder convict.

Now everything is forgotten and none of these people has any explanation but to sidestep questions, if any. The infamous BJP Washing Machine politics comes into play.

Nitish himself looked sheepish when he was told that he is criticised for being an alleged opportunist. Asked what had transpired within the Grand Alliance with RJD that ultimately forced him to desert the RJD, his response was that everything was not going on well. That was very vague. If things were not well, he himself, being the CM, could have taken corrective steps. His government was taking all the credit for creating jobs and conducting a caste-based census to ascertain the socio-economic disparity. Bihar claims to have done wonders in infrastructure and improving on IT, tourism and education fronts.

Tejaswi Yadav, Nitish’s deputy till the other day, has even thrown a gauntlet at the youth asking whether they want Hindu-Muslim politics or jobs. He became quite popular with this statement and youtubers such as Abhisar Sharma praised him sky high.

So, what and where things were not moving properly? If it was with the INDIA bloc, can Nitish blame RJD or Tejaswi?

As regards the opposition alliance to pose a credible fight against the BJP in the impending general elections, it was Nitish who was seen as moving together the Congress against the NDA. Everything appeared hunky dory at their first meeting at Bengaluru. Did Nitish have high hopes of becoming the convenor of INDIA and ultimately the PM face for the bloc? In that case, he could have made out his case through his followers. On the contrary, he made a public declaration that he had no dreams of becoming the PM face for INDIA. Well, now we know how much of the face value that we can consider as serious.

If Nitish had any grouse against Mallikarjun Kharge being named as the INDIA face for the PM, the ninth time Bihar CM should have realised that it was Bengal’s Mamata Bannerjee who proposed that. The Congress has never proposed any names. Kharge himself said let us win the elections first, then we can talk about the PM candidate.

Everybody talks about dirty politics but this kind of dirt was hardly expected. As it is, people have started losing interest in politics and dirty politicians and now the disinterest among the serious voters would grow further. The Bihar political circus cannot be dismissed as localised poli-tricks since the national level politicians are involved in it. Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram and now Paltu Ram – all happening in the name of Ram Rajya!

That the BJP wants to acquire power by hook or by crook is well known. The BJP’s strategy to finish regional parties is also well known. It has weakened the Shiv Sena and the NCP in Maharashtra and is happy at KCR’s defeat in Telangana. It is weighing its options to finish both the YSR Congress and TDP in Andhra Pradesh. Some analysts say that the BJP is using TMC in Bengal as Plan B to divide the non-Hindu votes so that the post-Ram temple polarisation can happen smoothly. And in Bihar, Nitish’s JD (U) will be disseminated after the Lok Sabha polls, as predicted by political strategist PK or Prashant Kishor. Modi dreams of an opposition-mukt Bharat after realising his Congress-mukt Bharat ambition.

These are the difficult times for the INDIA bloc. Three major partners – Mamata, Nitish and Kejrival - have deserted the alliance. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is able to get some eyeballs. But will the people converging at Rahul’s marches and meetings turn up at the polling booths and press the Congress button? That’s A Billion Dollars’ question!

Congress has suffered a major intra-party blow when young Milind Deora, one-time Congress MP, quit the party and joined Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena which is part of the tri-partite alliance government in Maharashtra.

Rahul continues to present an optimistic picture amid the entire ongoing crisis. Will he be able to play the victim card? Or will the commoner himself realise this and sympathise with Rahul and create a wave, silently?

Despite political contradictions and India as the nation has witnessed several post-poll alliances. One cannot, therefore, rule out such prospects even now. For that, the saffron alliance, basking under the Ram temple glory, has to perform very badly. The aura of Ram will last for a while and the BJP will have the elections before the wave abates.

As the Congress publicly stated, it has to focus on winning the elections and ensure one-on-one fights to the extent possible. It has to focus on the elusive Ram Rajya theory. It has to come clean of contradictions. Congress which criticises the Modi government for allegedly favouring certain business houses enters into MoUs with the same conglomerates. It has to respond to criticism of this dichotomy. India deserves a strong opposition.

We have been repeatedly saying that dictatorship and one-party rule are bad for the country and that includes the ruling dispensation itself. Some Congress MPs such as Kumar Ketkar say that there is a hush-hush talk within the BJP against the party dictatorial leadership and that they are waiting for someone to throw the first stone. Politics is a game of glorious uncertainties and nothing can be ruled out in this game of tricks.

Is this the Ram Rajya that Lord Ram himself practised and what Mahatma Gandhi enunciated? There may not be any answers, but we shall keep questioning the rulers as well as the opposition.

During the Republic Day flag hoisting, my housing society members reminded us about the country pledge that we used to recite in our school days. It’s time we reminded our politicians too, of the same.

India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always strive to be worthy of it. I shall give respect to my parents, teachers and elders and treat everyone with courtesy.

To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their wellbeing and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)