Before the reports about the widening gap between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav died down, the former spoke out strongly against the Congress – the third ally in the Mahagathbandhan in the state – making it amply clear that the alliance which had come to power after defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP in the elections of 2015 is in trouble.
The way Kumar lambasted the Congress in the open and also in close quarters as some reports suggest, one now can't help but question whether it is the JD(U) chief and not Modi who has scripted the obituary of the Grand-Old Party of Indian politics.
Nitish Kumar has a reason
Nitish Kumar has spoken from a position of reason. He has blamed the Congress for the hapless situation the Opposition has found it in today. He has even said reportedly that if the Congress persisted with its current form, it will be seen as Modi's "most-valued ally". This is something West Bengal Chief Minister had also uttered in the past. Last year, she had said after winning the Bengal Assembly polls that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is an asset of Modi.
Being a member of the opponent party, Modi and his team will not complain about the Congress's current state as it will only ensure their steady journey to continue. But as an ambitious leader who is aspiring to make his own space in the national politics, it is extremely frustrating for Kumar to see that all possibilities of erecting a strong anti-Modi platform are being ruined because of the worthless action of the Congress, a national party which is expected to lead from the front.
The next Lok Sabha elections are less than two years away and with the Congress reaching nowhere despite the repeated hammering it is getting, Kumar's disappointment is logical. He is afterall, a no-nonsense politician, just like Modi.
Nitish Kumar has challenged the traditional wisdom
Kumar is the first of the secular leaders who has openly disapproved of the Congress's worth. While most or all non-BJP parties and their leaders still believe that the presence of the Congress is key for the revival of the secular front to take on the Modi brigade, Kumar has dashed that traditional wisdom, saying he doesn't follow anyone but his own policies. This hints at something new.
Like success, failure too has an expiry date and the Congress is now facing that critical phase. It might choose to evade that decisive question of 'Why Rahul Gandhi?' and meaninglessly engage still with 'When Rahul Gandhi?' but for people like Kumar, that deadline is key for their own future. The Congress's inefficiency to do itself any good has now started to affect other parties that aspire to derail Modi politically and the JD(U) chief's outburst is the first sign. More than the communal versus secular debate, the Congress now has to find an answer to the efficiency versus inefficiency debate to convince its allies first.
Nitish Kumar has all the more reasons to feel upset. None of his two allies – Lalu Prasad and Congress – have cooperated with him enough either in the state or in the national politics. He has been seen as a smaller party leader by the Congress when the reality is that the latter itself has been dwarfed beyond recognition in today's national politics. Kumar's party, although a regional one, has clearly said that the Congress gifted BJP with Assam even after it did all the hard work to stop it in Bihar.
This says how much disconnected the Gandhis are from the realpolitik that even another regional party is pointing out the errors they have committed in another state election. For the Congress, it is a shame and for its allies, an embarrassment.
An open disapproval of Rahul Gandhi from a secular leader
Nitish Kumar has turned Rahul Gandhi from a comic into a tragic figure. He has not mocked the Congress vice-president like the PM often does but his latest diatribe makes it clear that he is not happy with the way the latter functions. In fact, for people like Nitish Kumar who has made a career in politics through sheer hard work, it is completely unlikely that somebody like Rahul Gandhi would fit their bill. Till now, the Modi factor had still buried the dissatisfaction. But now, with Modi having taken the game beyond the Opposition's reach almost, Kumar is no more ready to spare the Congress's permanent paralysis.
The Bihar CM might have opened the actual third front in Indian politics.
