As he wound his way through the dusty lanes of Bihar to pay homage to the six citizen-fans who came to join the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hunkar Rally (October 27) and died in the serial bomb blasts that could have escalated into one of the worst terrorist strikes in India, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was as welcome to the ruling party as late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was in 1977 when she rode to the hitherto unknown village of Belchi on the back on an elephant to condole the deaths of nine Harijans in a caste massacre.
Narendra Modi’s personal courage in returning to Bihar just six days after being the likely target of a brutal assassination plot, which might well have seen the wholesale massacre of rallyists who had gathered in lakhs to personally listen to him lambast the Nitish Kumar Government, is unparalleled.
It speaks volumes for the competence of the Gujarat Police that they could rise to the challenge of securing their charge and undertake the necessary coordination with the Bihar Police, which has to redeem its honour after the disaster of October 27, when as many as 18 live bombs were conveyed or sought to be conveyed to Gandhi Maidan and its vicinity. As many as six live bombs were found in the area two days later, on October 29, making the incident one of the worst cases of police ineptitude in India.
As a shameless Chief Minister shirked responsibility, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate rose to the occasion with a novel lalkaar (challenge) showcasing his sensitive side while showing up the callousness of the Bihar Chief Minister towards his own people. As is well-known, Nitish Kumar did not visit the families of the two Army jawans from Bihar killed in Pakistani firing in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir in August this year. And when one of his ministers famously remarked that people joined the Army to die only, Kumar was tolerant enough not to sack him.
Zero tolerance seems reserved for Narendra Modi. So when the most glaring mismanagement of the security of a visiting Chief Minister took place under his watch, in which six innocent civilians died and many more could have been massacred by the bombs and the resultant stampede, Nitish Kumar felt neither remorse nor responsibility. Far from visiting the victims, he gave priority to a party programme in Rajgir (where he was lambasted by some of his senior party colleagues) and to the crafting of a Third Front in Delhi.
Adroitly turning the tables on him, the BJP moved smoothly into the administrative vacuum to extend a ‘healing touch’ to the families of the victims. It flagged off six Shahid Asthi Yatras from the village of each victim on October 31, which will traverse neighbouring districts before being immersed in the Ganga on November 7, with a pledge to fight terrorism. Angry at being thus out-manoeuvred, Nitish Kumar could not find the courage to clamp down on the yatras; instead Janata Dal (United) leaders charged that they could whip up “communal passions” as they pass through “some communally-sensitive areas”. Well, law and order is a State responsibility and Bihar needs to improve its act.
The weather gods, however, were kind to the Bihar Government and curtailed part of the high voltage visit. After dense fog forced a two-hour delay, Narendra Modi managed to reach Kamarji village in Gaurichak in old Patna to visit the family of Rajnarain Singh, 65, a small farmer, two of whose sons are in the Army. Singh was a staunch BJP supporter and would not miss any big party rally. Though urged by his family not to attend the Hunkar Rally on account of his age, the old man slipped away to see Modi in person, and was near a giant TV screen at the venue when a bomb exploded nearby.
Just as Belchi is irrevocably associated with Indira Gandhi’s thumbing her nose at a hostile State Government and riding back to power in Delhi on the back of an elephant, Kamarji village will never forget the sight of Narendra Modi garlanding the photograph of Rajnarain Singh and sitting on the floor to condole his widow and family. Next stop was Kaimur, where he met the wife and children of Vikas Singh, 28, a primary member of the BJP who was actively associated with the Yuva Morcha in his area. A farmer by profession, he owned 12 bighas of land, and was the sole earner in the family. His two children include an eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter.
The scheduled visits to Gopalganj and Supaul had to be cancelled as bad weather made it impossible for the chopper to land there. However, Modi spoke to the young wife of Munna Srivastava, 32, a provision store owner in Mirganj, Gopalganj, who was an avid fan of the BJP. He leaves behind a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Assuring Munna’s wife that she was like his own daughter, he promised to take responsibility for her for her entire life.
The family of Bharat Rajak, 55, head of Simrahi panchayat and a member of the BJP, also had to receive the healing touch telephonically. Rajak earned his living doing odd jobs; his eldest son is a labourer and two younger sons are in school. Modi spoke to his son, Shankar, and later tweeted about the loyalty and love that Rajak’s pet pigeon showed for his master, even accompanying his body to the funeral.
Forced to return to Patna, Narendra Modi will now try to visit the family of Rajesh Kumar, 23, in Nalanda (home district of Nitish Kumar), and Vindeshwari Choudhary, 55, in Begusarai. Rajesh Kumar completed an ITI course from Sindri and had cleared a written test for a job in Kolkata whereby he hoped to support and educate his three younger brothers. Vindeshwari Choudhary, a small farmer survived by three sons, was an active BJP worker from Tarabariyarpur and led a group of over 500 people from his area to the rally. Like Rajnarain Singh, he too was standing near a giant TV screen at Gandhi Maidan when a bomb went off.
These flying stops by Modi across six districts will undoubtedly heat the Bihar environment in favour of the BJP, despite two legs of the trip being cancelled. Showing tremendous political agility, the state unit leaders attended the funerals of all deceased and compensated the families to the tune of Rs five lakhs per family and promised to help one member from each family find a job in private sector organisations within or outside the state. The State Government announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs two lakhs to the victims’ kin, but the absence of the Chief Minister and Janata Dal United leadership reduced this to a routine exercise. In contrast, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh had made it a point to attend the funerals of Congress leaders and members massacred by Maoists at the Sukma forests in May this year.
Sensing the public mood, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to rout the JD-U, in the general elections and later also the Assembly elections. Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi flagged the yatra from Supaul (victim Bharat Rajak); national vice-president CP Thakur from Begusarai (victim Vindeshwari Choudhary); leader of opposition Nand Kishore Yadav from Kaimur (victim Vikas Kumar Singh); national general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy and state president Mangal Pandey from Gopalganj (victim Munna Srivastava); former ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Prem Kumar from Gaurichak (victim Rajnarain Singh), and former minister Giriraj Singh from Nalanda (victim Rajesh Kumar).
Niticentral.com, 2 November 2013