The redoubtable Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar, has done it again.

No, he hasn’t vaulted across the political fence another time, at least not yet. He has refuelled mirth and worry over his state of mind with a repetition of acts that, to put it mildly, count as a public embarrassment. And once again in the company of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who seems to trigger resorts to odd behaviour in Nitish.

At a rally in Bihar’s Sasaram on Friday, Nitish introduced Modi as “Pradhan Mantri Atal Bihari” before correcting himself with a “Nahin, nahin sorry, Atal Bihari to pahile kaam kiye thhe …Atal Bihari had worked before….”

Thereafter, when he assumed his seat next to Modi, he folded his hands reverentially before the Prime Minister 10 times in the space of 30 seconds.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign, Nitish had once referred to Modi as “chief minister”. On another occasion, he boasted from the stage, in the presence of the Prime Minister, that Modi would win “4,000 seats”.

There was also an event around the same time when Nitish grabbed Modi’s hand, smiling and kept caressing his fingers for long enough for the Prime Minister to be annoyed and for the audience to remark on the bizarre manner of the chief minister.

For a significant while thereafter, Nitish was not invited to the public stage where Modi was to be present.

Just Thursday, Nitish had stunned top bureaucrats at a public event in Patna, placing a flower pot on the head of additional chief secretary S. Siddharth. Some in the audience were shocked into silence, some burst out laughing.

But this may be no laughing matter either for Bihar or for Nitish’s power ally, the BJP, whose leaders remain worried whether they can go credibly into Assembly elections with Nitish as the chief ministerial face.

Nitish’s repeated lapses into odd public behaviour have now become a matter of widespread public concern — is he in good enough mental shape to be the state’s chief executive? Nobody significant has yet raised the issue of a health report in a pointed manner, but the chatter in Patna’s political and social circles has gone on unabated.

In March, Nitish left the dais just before the national anthem was to be played to open an event; persuaded back on stage politely, he was observed talking to a colleague standing next to him, and laughing.

The incident spurred the Opposition RJD to slam the chief minister. All parties of the Bihar Mahagathbandhan had, in fact, demanded Nitish’s resignation at the time, alleging that he was no longer in fit enough health to rule the state.

Former chief minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi had said: “If Nitish Kumar has lost his mind, he should quit and make his son Nishant or somebody else chief minister.”

Another RJD leader was quoted as saying: “He is chief minister of a large and important state like Bihar, and his continuation as chief minister is not respectful to the state and its people.”

But the first sign that something may not be right with Nitish had revealed itself as far back as November 2023 when the chief minister dwelt at length, and in disturbingly graphic language, on an act of sexual intercourse.

This was during a discussion on the importance of educating women in the pursuit of population control. The language employed by the chief minister left the
Assembly floor angered and astonished; he later apologised for the descriptions he had used and the way he had spoken.