Patna: All government offices in Bihar were open Sunday because of a massive event — a human chain to mark the Nitish Kumar government’s Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission for the environment.
The government claims the human chain was 16,443 km long, and around 4.29 crore people participated in it. If these statistics are ratified, Nitish and the state might find their names in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Twelve helicopters were deployed between 11.30 am and 12 noon to monitor this mega mission.
Nitish and his ministers were part of the chain at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna. The length of the chain in the state capital alone was estimated to be 708 km.
The CM has been so engrossed in organising this event that in the last two months, he has hardly been in Patna for a whole week. Six days before the event, he told journalists that he would only speak on other issues, including the contentious CAA-NRC-NPR issue, after 19 January.
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Political polarisation
Nitish has made 19 January a day for organising human chains on different issues — this is the third his government has organised in four years. In 2017, it was for total prohibition of alcohol in the state, while the second was against child marriage and dowry in 2018.
The first two human chains had some participation from the opposition in the name of a social cause. In 2017, when Nitish’s JD(U) was still part of the ‘Grand Alliance’ with the RJD and the Congress, the BJP, despite being in opposition, had lent support to the human chain, with leaders standing in a line in front of the state unit’s office.
However, this time, there is complete political polarisation, and opposition parties have stayed away from the human chain. Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP told ThePrint: “The environment is a worldwide concern. It is unfortunate that the opposition parties have decided to oppose the human chain, and shown their lack of concern over the important issue.”
Modi said the Bihar government has earmarked projects worth Rs 24,500 crore under the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission. But the opposition is not convinced.
“The human chain is a fraud (being committed) on the people of Bihar, to project Nitish Kumar as a yugpurush (icon of the era). In the entire state, trees have been cut down in the name of roads and other government projects,” senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari told ThePrint.
“The projects announced under the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission are aimed at benefitting JD(U) supporters by giving them contracts,” Tiwari alleged, saying that the previous human chain events also failed as prohibition has become a mockery and the state still figures at the top of the list of dowry death and child marriage cases in the country.
Tejashwi slams Nitish
RJD leader and Nitish’s former deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav slammed the human chain, saying: “No clothes on their body, no slippers on their feet, no pens in their hands, no roti in their stomachs, no jobs for the youth. But crores have been burnt to shine up (Nitish’s) face. Naitik (moral) Kumar’s drama is against human values. If anyone questions Kursi (chair) Kumar, the government will stop giving advertisements.”
The JD(U) hit back, with minister Neeraj Kumar saying they weren’t surprised at the opposition’s stance.
“Perhaps the RJD wanted a human chain for property and corruption, in favour of people like rape accused Raj Ballabh Yadav and gangsters like Mohammad Shahabuddin. The environment is an issue of worldwide importance. We question the wisdom of the opposition and their attempts to politicise it,” Neeraj Kumar said.
JD(U) leaders say a human chain is like a rally, and they are not sure about its political impact. “But it has given Nitish Kumar the image of a statesman. He has made it a point that politicians need to make interventions in social issues,” the minister said.
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