Nitish is Bihar’s favourite aloo that goes well with sickular, corrupt, saffron curries

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar proves to be an all season politician as he breaks and joins alliances with great frequency in Bihar.

Patna, July 31: Once upon a time when Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav ruled over the badlands of Bihar like a don, his supporters chanted with great pride, "Jab tak samosa mein rahega aloo, Bihar mein rahega Lalu (Till the time potato is there in a samosa, Lalu will be there in Bihar)".

In sloganeering so, his bhakts (fans or followers) told the world that Lalu was going to rule Bihar forever.

Imagine a samosa (India's favourite snack made with white flour dough rolled into a thin sheet, after which an artistic hand turns it into a cone-like structure to be stuffed generously with potatoes mixed well with spices, and deep-fried in simmering oil till it becomes slightly brown and crispy) without potatoes.

Similarly, for long till the RJD chief was finally sent to jail for his involvement in chara ghotala (fodder scam) by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2013 and disqualified as a member of Parliament (MP) and barred from contesting elections for six years over corruption charges, Lalu was Bihar's undisputed aloo.

Things have changed over the years. Now, Bihar's all season aloo is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Lalu's friend-turned-foe-turned-friend-turned-foe...

Whenever time comes, Nitish has shown that no one is "untouchable"--the Congress, the RJD and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-- to remain politically relevant. He had forged alliances with all (at one time or another), had left all (again, at one time or another) and whenever it suited him he had patched up with them.

Some call him an opportunist, others a realistic. We would like to call him an aloo, the ubiquitous vegetable in your kitchen.

Like a potato that goes so well with a chicken stew as well as a pure vegetable fry of cabbage and pea, Nitish too mixes well with corruption-charged parties like the RJD and the Congress and highly communal and divisive parties like the BJP.

He is a truly accommodative politician. If today he is charging Lalu and his family of corruption to break away from the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), tomorrow if by chance once again the "sickular (the current term for once revered secular ideology) and corrupt" parties become relevant, he won't blink his eyes twice to join hands with them.

Then he would once again raise his voice to fight against communal forces with the help of corrupt forces, like now he's claiming to fight against corruption with the help of communal forces.

All these Cs--corruption and communalism--are the spices of Indian politics. You have to add a spoonful of these "C" spices to make the curry of politics delicious.

OneIndia News