With about eight months to go for the Bihar assembly election, the political circles in the state are jostling to figure out the name of the challenger to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Bihar’s opposition parties are similarly locked in a quarrel and are yet to decide on their chief ministerial candidate.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the biggest party in Bihar’s grand alliance or Mahagathbandhan, has declared Tejashwi Yadav as its candidate. But there’s a reason why the Congress, the second major party in the alliance, hasn’t come on board yet.
The CM face
Congress wants the co-ordination committee of the Mahagathbandhan to decide on the CM name. So do other parties in the opposition camp, like Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Vikaassheel Insan Party (VIP).
For the Left parties, there is no confusion: Kanhaiya Kumar is their leader.
On the face of it, Lalu Yadav’s youngest son Tejaswi Yadav is the face of opposition in Bihar. He is their leader in Bihar assembly, although that is mainly because he heads the largest party in the alliance.
But if a meeting of the co-ordination committee is all it will take to end the quarrel, why hasn’t Tejashwi Yadav convened one?
Also read: The Nitish formula Kanhaiya, Tejashwi, Chirag are using to build support before Bihar polls
The Kanhaiya factor
People aware of the developments say Tejashwi Yadav is fearful of the Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kanhaiya Kumar. Tejashwi’s fear is more pronounced these days because the former president of JNU students’ union is travelling all over Bihar and his rallies are drawing massive crowds.
It’s the same story from the 2019 Lok Sabha election playing out months before the Bihar assembly election, scheduled for October-November this year. Despite the Left’s insistence, the RJD nominated its candidate Tanveer Hasan from Begusarai parliamentary seat. It was said at the time that the party’s decision was prompted by a similar fear in Tejashwi camp over the Kanhaiya factor.
The only difference this time is that the Congress is also tilting towards Kanhaiya Kumar. Bihar Congress leader and MLA from Katihar district’s Kadwa constituency, Shakeel Ahmad Khan, who is considered a think tank in his own right, has stood solidly behind Kanhaiya Kumar.
A rally of the CPI leader makes it clear that while he is the sole face being projected, the one in charge of making that happen is Shakeel Ahmad Khan. And if it’s a rally of Kanhaiya Kumar, surely it will have the supporters and members of the Left parties.
So, is there a Left-Congress bonhomie developing in Bihar?
An incident from Kanhaiya Kumar’s statewide yatra (tour) answers this best. Just as the touring party was about to depart for the meeting scheduled in Banka, Shakeel Ahmad Khan was heard replying to someone’s objection. “If people can come to these (Kanhaiya’s) rallies with the Left’s red flags, then what is the objection with some carrying the Congress’s flag? Of course they can. If Shakeel Ahmad Khan is with Kanhaiya Kumar, then it means the Congress is also with him.”
This is the reason why that co-ordination committee meeting hasn’t happened yet.
Also read: Rise of Chandrashekhar Azad — from Saharanpur’s saviour to darling of anti-CAA protests
CAA-NRC-NPR
If Shakeel Ahmad Khan is drawing Muslim crowds to Kanhaiya’s rallies, then so is the nationwide protest movement against the Narendra Modi government’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the twin population registration exercise, the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).
The CAA-NRC-NPR is the main reason behind the Congress’ developing support to Kanhaiya Kumar. The grand old party is itself drawing a lot of support from the Muslim community over the CAA-NRC-NPR issue. The Congress has seen the impact of standing with the RJD on this matter.
The RJD called a ‘Bihar Bandh’ on 21 December, two days after the Left had called for a strike against the CAA-NRC-NPR. While no senior Congress leader participated in the RJD’s bandh, the one held on 19 December saw massive Congress participation, besides several other parties.
Also read: Modi govt’s handling of Chandrashekhar Azad & Kanhaiya Kumar shows who is the bigger threat
Congress and Kanhaiya
Political experts say that the Congress, which sees senior leaders like Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi sharing stage with Kanhaiya, is benefitting more from the CPI leader, who himself wouldn’t mind joining hands with the Congress.
The question that remains then is why would the Congress, in the upcoming election, leave a bigger party like the RJD to join ranks with the Left, which barely has any base in Bihar?
The Congress itself is answering that.
“What’s wrong in Kanhaiya? The Left has supported the Congress in the past too. Our first fight is against Sanghvaad, to save the Indian Constitution,” Bihar Congress president Madanmohan Jha says in a conversation.
Several political experts say that Kanhaiya has infused a new life in the Left, which seemed to be on its deathbed only until a few months ago. The Congress, which is disappointed with the RJD’s attitude since the Lot Sabha results, has sensed that Kanhaiya brings not just the Left with him but smaller parties like HAM, RLSP and VIP as well.
A persistent bone of contention between the RJD and the Congress has been sharing of seats. The Congress knows it will be the main party of the alliance that will be formed without the RJD, and this will fulfil the party’s wish to contest on maximum number of seats.
And the RJD camp is helping the Congress decide by taking a clear stand: it will rather go it alone than support Kanhaiya Kumar as the leader.
Also read: Arvind Kejriwal’s win in Delhi can change Nitish Kumar’s election preparation in Bihar
Not Lalu’s RJD
The Congress is also aware that the RJD is no longer the same potent force as it was under Lalu Prasad Yadav’s leadership. Lalu was the axis around which other alliance partners revolved. Now, even the Yadav vote bank is not entirely with the RJD. There are several Yadav leaders who are effectively countering the RJD leadership, building their own support base.
It doesn’t matter much to the Congress anyway who the Yadavs see as their new leader. Its sole aim is to pick a face that can successfully challenge the BJP-JD(U) government. In Tejashwi Yadav, the Congress doesn’t see the end of its search — and so it’s turning Left, towards Kanhaiya Kumar.
But has Kanhaiya decided? The CPI leader is yet to make up his mind whether he wants to contest the assembly election. He was non-committal during the last conversation.
Obviously, Kanhaiya Kumar won’t reveal his cards as of now. He knows that the creation of public mood in his favour is still in its early stage. It takes time to build an atmosphere. There are still months to go — perhaps the show of strength will begin when he takes the mic on 27 February in Patna.
The author is an independent journalist. View are personal.
This article has been translated from Hindi. Read the original here.
Just that you missed a very important thing that Kanhaiya, in some of his rallies, has openly come out and said that the days are gone when the son of CM will become the CM. Therefore, it is clear that he has openly rejected Tejashwi
Thats wonderful news for BJP-JDU alliance. This will become a three party election and that means the opposition vote gets split. BJP-JDU will win hands down in that case. RJD has a 15-20% vote base, if muslims move to congress-left alliance, BJP-JDU will get about 40-45% minimum vote share, RJD will get 15-20% vote, leaving congress-Left with atmost 20% . So clean sweep BJP+JDU.
Kanhaiya is less of a leader and more of a agitator…he can only call for strikes and mobilise crowd but governing is not his cup of tea..
The darling of left communal media..how is khaniya kumar still relevant after the massive drubbing of begusarai..he is notorious/infamous not famous as print wire scoopwhoop claim..cpi has no base whatsoever in india ..I hope congress realise this and go solo.
Enough of corruption, enough of caste division…….. Come forward and vote for KANHAIYA KUMAR……….. Arvind kejriwal of bihar
Congress has no principles now. It just wants to ride piggyback on whoever or whatever is likely to get votes so that it can keep its foot in the door to share power.
Congress not only sink itself but it will take all along the other parties. So it will make Muslim community to rush to Nithish who is in command with the coalition government. All this CAA movement is a fluke one influenced & ignited by the Assam movement, as such their problem is real & different it is preventing & priorities with saving Assami culture, where they themselves feel they are in minority. Once they have been assured & the court also understood this & expressed their opinion & reluctant to give Stay, with the promise of the State & Central govt. actions has some what satisfied by them and lead to die down the agitation.
It is very clear that the Congress & other opposition parties has used this opportunity as a tool to cause disturbance & insecurity among the minorities, especially the Muslim community. Even media, especially the Visual has deliberately encouraged this lie to grab the eyballs & see their advertisement revenue jumped up more than four folds. Thanks to youngsters just because their presence in live telecast shown, mindlessly they joined this brigade allowing hooligans & anti nationals to misuse the agitation. Lets wait & watch. Tx.
It would be a political harakiri for Kanhaiya Kumar if he joins hand with Congress.
As it is CPI has lost footprint in Bihar & on top if Kanhaiya steps on the mud of Congress, his identity & ideologies that has given him so much attention and traction all over the nation would vaporise the moment he does that mistake.
He should not even think about it for next five year for any legislative or parliamentary positions, instead should build up on his political capital.
CPM is also a spent force & laid back leaders like Karat, Yechuri are belly full and are definitely down the abyss.
CPI & CPM both needs reinvention and fresh leaders. Kanhaiya is a ray of hope & already the scheming of political maneuvers is visible to pull him down.