Superstition cuts across parties
Education minister P.K. Shahi had an encounter with an astrologer who said the stars were not in his favour and that he should organise a yagna to turn his fortune around. “The minister appears to have been caught in a fix as he was in the chief minister’s janata darbar and knows that Nitish Kumar frowns on rituals and superstitions. The minister told the astrologer that he would be out of the state capital for a long period and gave a vague date when he would return,” said an official who was present at the darbar.
Incidentally, Nitish’s arch political rival Lalu Prasad continues to harp on superstitions. When it finally rained in Patna, the RJD chief declared that the rain god had smiled on Bihar because he and wife Rabri Devi had prayed in Deoghar (Jharkhand). “No wonder, Lalu spends more time in temples than with the people nowadays,” said a JD(U) leader.
With Lalu Prasad challenging his former aide-turned-Nitish loyalist to a wrestling match at Gandhi Maidan, some persons asked deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi if he was ready to accept a challenge from the RJD chief. “Don’t worry. Laluji will never challenge me to a wrestling match,” Modi said. Old timers recall the long association of Modi and Lalu. During the JP Movement in the 1970s, Lalu was the president and Modi was the secretary of Patna University Students’ Union. That is why Lalu keeps referring to Modi as “my secretary” even when he was the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly. Recently, when Modi remarked that Lalu was getting too old to launch an agitation against the NDA government, the RJD chief reacted mildly. “Had it been any other leader, Lalu would have made a harsh statement,” remarked a BJP leader. A woman from Siwan came to the chief minister's janata darbar to complain about the functioning of a primary health centre. But she did not have any petition to give to Nitish. Instead, she said she had composed a song regarding the problem. She sang a few lines before Nitish directed her to the principal secretary of health, Vyasji. She sang in front of Vyasji in Bhojpuri for 15 minutes. After listening to her, Vyasji picked up the phone and instructed the officials concerned. “She did not have to say anything. Her song said it all,” the IAS officer remarked appreciating the innovative way of presenting problems verbally instead of written petitions. Visheshwar Ojha, a BJP leader from Bhojpur and relative of MLA Munni Devi approached deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi complaining that he had been receiving threat calls on his cellphone and the police had told him that there was a threat to his life. Ojha mentioned the name of a local JD(U) legislator as the person who was behind the threats and wanted Modi to help him in getting police protection. “The JD(U) may be thinking of breaking up the alliance and making public statements against us. But that does not mean that they go around threatening our leaders and workers,” remarked an agitated BJP worker.
