Patna, Aug. 27: Chief minister Nitish Kumar is set to take a break from his Seva Yatras and embark on a political rally for the JD(U) — the first time since it ousted the Lalu-Rabri regime in 2005.
Dubbed adhikar yatra (rights march), the mission is likely to begin on September 19 and culminate in “adhikar rally” at Gandhi Maidan in the state capital on November 4.
Dhanyavad Yatra, Vishwas Yatra, Vikas Yatra, Pravas Yatra and Seva Yatra, all the exercises of Nitish during his seven-year regime have been, by and large, official in nature with the administrative and police machineries involved in the programmes. In fact, his political cadres have been reportedly cribbing about their leader (Nitish) operating through the bureaucracy and ignoring them.
“Mobilisation of the party cadres and people is in progress at the block level. All 38 districts in the state have been distributed among the JD(U) ministers, who will coordinate with local MLAs, office bearers and workers and make them aware of the rally’s objective,” state party chief Basishtha Narayan Singh told The Telegraph.
As the chief minister has explained, the ostensible objective of the rally will be to muster public opinion in support of the special category status to Bihar. Nitish perceives that the special category status is the “most popular” demand of the state’s people and the JD(U) will raise the issue through the “adhikar rally” forum.
The chief minister has already carried out many campaigns, including gathering of over one crore signatures in support of the demand and submitting them to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Besides involving the party’s political apparatus for the rights march, Nitish is believed to have planned to measure and showcase his political clout amid talks of the JD(U) falling out with its 16-year-old ally, the BJP, in the run-up to the 2014 elections. Moreover, Nitish will also use the event as a tool to galvanise his cadres from the panchayat to the state-level.
“We are very enthusiastic that the chief minister has involved us in a big way. Nitishji engaging us in a constructive political mission is like a dream come true,” said a party cadre at the JD(U) office. He added: “It is an opportunity to be in proximity with the CM and share our ideas, as well as grievances, with him.”
Through the rights march, Nitish also has an opportunity to test the new social alignment he built to replace the Lalu-Rabri regime in 2005 and stage a comeback to power in 2010. Lalu Prasad, during the prime of his power, had commanded what is known in political parlance as the Mandal block that comprised all the backward castes, besides the Muslims.
Nitish, however, took away the extremely backward castes from the overall block of the backward castes and combined them with the Mahadalits (lowly among the Dalits), besides a section of Muslims, to stitch a formidable combination against the M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) — one that the RJD chief had been left with during the last leg of his power.
Through the rally, the chief minister is also likely to find out how the new social equation, constituting the nucleus of political strength, responds to his call to gather at the Gandhi maidan on November 4. Nitish’s trusted bureaucrat-turned-party MP RCP Singh has been made in-charge to coordinate with various cells of the JD(U) for the rally.
