Nitish-Modi close-up: Has Nitish cheated Muslims in Bihar?

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net

Barely 72 hours after the Lok Sabha election process ended in Bihar, Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar attended the show of strength rally of NDA-led BJP in Punjab, he shared dais with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi (whose role in the post-Godhra riots is now being probed) and shook his hands. By doing so Nitish might have surprised the Muslim community in Bihar – many of them might now be feeling cheated – but the intellectual and informed section of the community is not much surprised because for them the fine line between true secular and communal has got blurred over the years.

A section albeit small of the Muslim community has been taking Nitish as a serious secular politician, and he himself has tried, almost successfully, to make the community believe that as CM in the last three and half years he did not succumb to pressure from BJP. And just before the Lok Sabha election process started in the state he stated that he had nothing to do with the agenda of the BJP, he has no need of Narendra Modi for election campaign in Bihar and he is not going to even share dais with the Gujarat CM, known worldwide more for the bloodiest ever 2002 pogrom than anything else. “Not at all. Why should I?” Nitish had told the media on April 7, when asked if he would share a dais with Modi.

During election campaigns also he reiterated his stand. This certainly helped him get some support of the community in the form of votes. It is the very section which now might be feeling cheated because the first public thing Nitish did just after the elections were over in Bihar is to attend the NDA rally and clasp each other’s hands to show they are united.

Are the common Muslims feeling cheated? “Certainly. They will feel bewildered rather cheated,” says Prof. Abuzar Kamaluddin, ex-vice chairman, Bihar Intermediate Education Council. “He (Nitish) expected that he would get support of Muslims in Bihar and thus he declined to share dais with Modi earlier. Now elections are over they have come out in their true colors,” says the eminent educationist of undivided Bihar.

However, he himself is not much surprised over the development. “There is nothing strange in it. There is no commitment on the part of so-called secular parties. When Vajpayee was being made PM these so-called secular parties and leaders were considering Advani as untouchable and now Advani is Prime Minister-in-waiting, the same people are behaving with Modi as untouchable. It is very difficult to say today who is secular and who not. It is just politics of convenience whereby they want to support one who can help them to power,” argues Prof. Kamaluddin.

The majority of the minority community is feeling that these gentlemen have no secular commitment. They change colors as per their convenience. No sensible minority person believes in what they say. Simply they are banking on the fear factor. They are creating some sort of fear in the heart of minority and some sort of protection they want to give to minority. And on that plank they want to get their support. There is no genuine endeavor on part of any segment of the political party to work for minority development and to give them their due share in the political process and decision making process. So we are not surprised by what Nitish and other people like him have shown, he says.

Maulana Anisur Rahman, General Secretary, Imarat Shariah is also not much surprised. “Since Nitish Kumar has been saying that he wants to make Advani PM and after Advani, BJP says, Modi will become PM, so if Nitish is meeting with Modi it means he is endorsing the BJP’s policy. He has made his point clear.”

Are Muslims in Bihar who voted for Nitish Kumar’s JD-U feeling they have been cheated by Nitish? “If some people voted for him thinking he is doing justice with them, they could not read him well. Because he has always said that he is with NDA and wants to make Advani PM. And there is little difference between Advani and Modi. It is an open cheating, not a hidden one,” says the Maulana.

But the question is: “What could have prompted him to share a dais and shake hands with Modi when he had been declining to do so earlier?

“He wants to be assured that his strength in the political parties remains the same after the elections. He is basically looking for the new equation. But as nothing is happening he is playing safe by remaining with the NDA,” says Asif Akhtar, a lecturer in Patna. “As for his sharing dais with Modi, that was the occasion for NDA to show its strength and being part of NDA Nitish was there. But personally he has made it clear at several occasions that he is not going to support Modi as PM,” Akhtar adds.

He echoes Maulana Anisur Rahman on Muslims who supported JD-U now feeling cheated. “It is just foolishness to think that Muslims were not aware about his link with NDA and Modi. If someone voted for his party thinking that he was secular and nothing to do with Modi or NDA, he is foolish.”
http://twocircles.net/2009may11/nitish_modi_close_has_nitish_cheated_muslims_bihar.html