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"Why do you want to trouble a two-day-old Chief Minister with your questions? Really, what is there to ask or say?" Nitish Kumar joked before the beginning of the interview with Venkitesh Ramakrishnan but soon settled down to elucidating his priorities as the Chief Minister of Bihar and how his government proposed to actualise them. Excerpts.
You have led an 11-year-long campaign to oust the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) government guided by Lalu Prasad. Now that you have achieved your goal, how do you look back at the past and how do you evaluate the present?
See, the 11-and-a-half-year-long struggle was to rectify the downslide of Bihar as a State and as a political institution. The State's rulers had become the symbol of negativism. There was not even a semblance of governance here. Law and order had disappeared, basic social and economic infrastructure - bijli (power), sadak (roads), paani (water) - was non-existent and the people were deliberately being divided along sectarian lines, creating an atmosphere of social confrontation. The struggle was to correct all this, bring back governance and law and order and rebuild infrastructure. So, that is the real goal. Defeating Laluji or the RJD is merely an instrument, and a rudimentary instrument at that, to work towards this larger goal. Perhaps you and I should talk about achievement after these maladies have been addressed properly and after my government registers some material progress.
What would be the road map for this?
My colleagues and I are working it out. As I was telling you, a Ministry that is merely two days old cannot be expected to come up with a road map or a blue print. But, broadly, I can say that along with the political class, the bureaucracy and even the media have to play a big role in developing a blueprint and seeing to it that it is implemented properly. Some sections of the bureaucracy had fallen for the caste and sectarian politics that held sway in the past. They will have to correct it. The media should project the fact that until Bihar is really developed India cannot really develop. They should monitor the government and the officialdom closely. And I want cooperation from the Central government too to bring progress to Bihar. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had telephoned and congratulated me and assured me of all cooperation.
Talking about law and order, do you think that you would be able to make real headway? Apparently, there are some 100 organised groups across the State employing about 12,000 hoodlums and almost all of them have political connections. Your party, the Janata Dal (United), also has its share of these groups....
I am aware of this. I am also aware that criminalisation has put major impediments in the path of Bihar's growth and development. I will say only one thing. The earlier regime protected and promoted some of these groups. My government will not become a patron of any one of them.
Your campaign had a special focus on the instances of corruption and embezzlement of government money during the earlier regime. How are you going to proceed on these cases now?
Many of these cases are being investigated and some of them are before the judiciary. I will only say that the government will help the movement of these cases in the natural course. It will not interfere with that procedure, either to create impediments or to impart it with undue haste. And, as and when fresh instances come to the government's notice, strong measures will be taken to punish the guilty and correct the course.
There is a view, within your party as well as in your National Democratic Alliance (NDA) associate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that a special vigilance cell should probe the cases of corruption. These sections also want a special court to speed up the judicial process in these cases.
I have not come across any of these suggestions. We will look at it as and when they come up before us. But again, broadly, I would like to say that the government will not be driven by a "persecution urge" or vindictiveness. We will see to it that the law is adhered to correctly and fully. Nothing more, nothing less.
Is this not a kind of dilution of your anti-RJD rhetoric?
Why do you have to draw such conclusions? I am merely asserting that the law will be upheld as it should be upheld, without vindictiveness, with balance of mind and purpose, keeping the best interests of the people and society as priority.
There is also a stream of opinion that your government will provoke the revival of the upper castes-backward castes tussle, especially in the context of the strong upper caste presence among your MLAs. The perception is that these sections will use Nitish Kumar, who belongs to the Kurmi caste which comes under the Other Backward Classes (OBC), to repress other OBC communities such as Yadavs.
I have also been hearing this. But let me tell you that this has not generated from Bihar. Theorists outside the State are behind this motivated murmur. Look at the composition of my support base as reflected in the vote share of the NDA and the seats we have won; you can see that my government has support cutting across caste, class and communal considerations. It has the support of the upper castes, OBCs and a large segment of Extremely Backward Castes (EBC) and Dalits. The Muslim minorities have also rallied around us in large numbers this time. I can say with pride that this is the first government in many decades with comprehensive representation of all communities and social classes of the State. It is far from sectarian and we will not allow sectarian mischief to overtake it.
What about the Hindutva sections of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar? Do you think they would share this perception?
We have our ideological positions and differences. But the BJP and the JD (U) have worked together for so many years on the basis of a common minimum programme. That experience is one of the basic strengths of this alliance. That will remain and reflect in the governance too.
Undoubtedly, your government has come into being on the strength of the enormous expectations and aspirations that the people of Bihar have. Because of the strength and intensity of these aspirations some observers have even characterised it as vaulting hopes. It is the spectacle of a society of people in a hurry. Personally, how do you think you would cope with this uniquely urgent situation?
I suppose this is the biggest personal challenge of my political career and indeed my life. I constantly remind myself that I should neither be proud nor afraid of my success. And I also know that I can only work and try to govern well. I, along with my colleagues, will work hard and with determination. If everything was in order, I could have kept to the beaten track. But now, I will have to make my own way.
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