A snub by Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh doesn’t seem to have deterred Nitish Kumar from continuing with his efforts to expand his party outside Bihar. Not only is the Bihar chief minister making a concerted bid to pitch Prohibition as a big social movement in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, he is also in talks with Jagmeet Brar, the expelled Congress leader from Punjab, to get him to join the Janata Dal (United) and lead the anti-addiction campaign in Punjab, which goes to the polls in early 2017.
Kumar’s efforts are likely to gain momentum after May 21, when Brar will hold a rally of his supporters at Chapparchidi near Sirhind in Punjab.
Win-win for Kumar and Brar?
“We have not taken any decision so far,” Brar told Scroll.in, in response to a question whether he planned to join the JD(U). “We will do what our friends and supporters will direct us to do. But I must tell you that what Nitish Kumar has done in Bihar is really commendable. People in Punjab are suffering from drug abuse as never before. They are looking up to Bihar as a role model in this regard.”
He continued: “People of Punjab have suffered so much because of drug addiction that they want to participate in the social movement launched by Nitish Kumar… Don’t forget the fact that the message of Prohibition is coming from the place where our tenth Guru [Guru Gobind Singh] was born.”
As a seasoned politician, Brar is unlikely to give up room for manoeuvre by speaking out before what he considers to be the appropriate time. But both Brar as well as Kumar clearly have their respective political calculations on their minds.
While Brar promises Kumar a foothold in Punjab, thus helping him strengthen his national ambitions, the Bihar chief minister promises the expelled Congress leader the support of the large population of Bihari migrants in the state. Their joining of hands may, therefore, help the two in pressurising the Congress to accommodate them in the state-specific secular alliance.
Prohibition and women
As of now, liquor has not been an issue in the politics of Punjab. It is the hazard of drug abuse, especially in rural and semi-urban areas, which is fuelling anger against the ruling Akali-Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government. Yet Brar’s associates feel that Kumar’s Prohibition plank will resonate with the popular discontentment due to widespread drug addiction in Punjab.
Brar – who was expelled from the Congress party last month for his outbursts against the party’s state president Amarinder Singh – had won the Faridkot parliamentary seat in 1992 and 1999. In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, he defeated Sukhbir Singh Badal, the present deputy chief minister and the president of the Akali Dal.
Kumar’s move to create a niche for his party in Punjab comes close on the heels of his failure to emerge as a significant player in Uttar Pradesh. Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, who initially responded enthusiastically to his proposal to merge his party with the JD-U, has drifted away, leaving the Bihar chief minister high and dry.
The setback, however, has not come in the way of the JD-U leader’s bid to pitch his Prohibition decision as a model for other states. On May 10, he is scheduled to address a public meeting at Dhanbad in neighbouring Jharkhand – a move that has already provoked a war of words with the state’s Chief Minister, Raghubar Das. In the meeting, which is being organised by a local women’s body, Jharkhand Nari Sangharsh Morcha, Kumar is slated to discuss the benefits of Prohibition.
Winning over women voters – by pitching Prohibition as a social movement – seems to have become a significant part of Kumar’s strategy to grow beyond Bihar. His Jharkhand tour will be followed by a similar public meeting on this very issue on May 12 at Pindra in UP, which is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency of Varanasi. Kumar’s proposed Varanasi meeting is also being organised by a local women’s body. Three days later, the Bihar chief minister is scheduled to speak again on Prohibition in Lucknow.
It is in this context that Kumar's move to rope in Brar to take his campaign to Punjab becomes significant. That Kumar is banking heavily on Prohibition as a social movement became clear when he said in Patna on April 28: “This movement in Bihar will go to other places in the country too. Women’s organisations are starting similar campaigns across the country and they have my total support.”
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