Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bihar visit on Saturday, his first to the state after his party’s electoral drubbing in last year’s Assembly polls, to inaugurate two railway bridges over the Ganga, would have been unremarkable but for some unexpected political remarks. He referred to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a “mitra”, or friend. This was a surprise. Their personal relationship has been strained for several years, and matters got worse when Mr Kumar jettisoned the BJP as a coalition partner when it was announced that the saffron party would make Mr Modi its candidate for Prime Minister in 2014. Mr Modi then denounced the Congress from the public platform.
The Congress is part of the ruling coalition in Bihar but it has a far from assured electoral strength, and this is more than a three-decade-old story. Therefore, the PM’s attack on a party that doesn’t count for too much in the state nowadays is reflective of the BJP’s — and Mr Modi’s — overall political perspective. Evidently, on the national chessboard, the BJP continue to see the Congress as adversary number one that will not be reconcilable to it, unlike various regional parties, whose politics often change with the season.
Also, in spite of its vastly reduced strength, it is the Congress which is in the forefront of raising uncomfortable questions for the government in Parliament. There is no question of course that the Bihar chief minister and his party are about to re-configure their current politics in line with Mr Modi’s tactical thinking.
