×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Brand Nitish battles image crisis

Last Updated 15 October 2016, 19:01 IST

Barely a year ago, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad embraced each other after sweeping Bihar. But the going so far has been anything but what the shutterbugs caught. Lalu’s protege Shahabuddin’s release, Raj Ballabh Yadav issue and the Patna High Court verdict on prohibition have rocked Nitish’s boat. Though the apex court gave some hope to the Bihar chief minister on his prohibition agenda, the compromises effected to keep the marriage alive may have dented an otherwise well-crafted image to pole-vault himself to Delhi’s throne.

By enforcing prohibition, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has placed himself among politicians navigating in a realm of all sorts of ambiguity. Taking a high moral ground by claiming to follow Mahatma Gandhi’s tenets as incorporated in the Directive Principles of our Constitution, Nitish has silenced all his political rivals at least on the policy issue. But the style of enforcing this key social initiative has become questionable on many counts and some observers consider it as an obsessed move of a politician in a hurry.

Some controversial provisions, like arrest of all family members if someone is found consuming liquor in their house on the ground of complicity in the crime, appear to be absurd, even from the legal angle. This may give enough scope for police atrocities.

Recently, the police raided the house of Chief Post Master General (GPO, Patna), on a false tip off that he was throwing a party where liquor was being served. The men in khaki ruined the party hosted by the senior officer leaving him in a state of shock. Similar incidents were reported from other areas too.

However, the chief minister considers it as a simple administrative aberration and has asserted that the new law has strict provisions against police officers found guilty while discharging their duty. It’s ridiculous that a state where 80 police officers maintain vigil over a lakh people – ranking among the lowest in the country – would be strict while enforcing prohibition. Even experts feel that this may work in the short term but it is difficult to anticipate the positive impact in the medium and long term. There are apprehensions that in a state with poor law and order maintenance record, this additional burden on the police force may impact the routine job greatly.

The porous international and long borders with adjoining states will give enough ways to smuggle liquor in through the black market, at least in the surrounding districts. But the major worry for Nitish is on the financial front as excise duty on liquor used to generate about Rs 5,000 crore annually, and this loss has come at a time when the state government is not expecting any financial bonanza from the Centre headed by his arch political rivals.

The first jerk was felt recently when the state witnessed a decline of 33.06% collection of revenue in the first quarter of this financial year in comparison to last year. This stiff fall is largely attributed to the implementation of total prohibition from this financial year. The financial pinch is now being reflected in the government expenditure.

The salary and pension to over 40,000 teaching and non-teaching staff of various universities and colleges of the state is due for the last four months, though the festival season is on.

The Nitish Kumar government has yet to kick off any major development project costing hundreds of crores unlike in the earlier regime. Questions are being raised on the successful execution of seven resolves (seven mega development projects like drinking water to every household) costing Rs 2.70 lakh crore. Some of the initiatives were kicked off a year after coming back to power.

While rubbishing charges about a financial crisis in Bihar due to fall in revenue earnings after enforcement of total prohibition, Nitish said: “I have no idea about any financial crisis. I do not know how they are telling all these things. After all, how much money used to come to the state exchequer from this immoral trade? Why are they (opposition leaders) so worried about collecting money from such immoral trade?”

Nitish’s presumption
Perhaps, Nitish’s presumption is largely based on the public savings of more than Rs 40,000 crore, estimated on liquor consumption, that would be pumped into the market which could have a cascading effect, leading to revenue generation in a big way. The government has tried its best to squeeze revenue from all possible sources, even enhancing VAT and other tax slabs on many commodities.

The chief minister’s presumption appears to be crude and its short and medium term impact is yet to be assessed. “Its too early to make such estimate as it will depend on how prohibition gets enforced in reality. It is possible that addicts may adopt ganja or drugs,” says Alakh N Sharma, director of Institute for Human Development.

Knowing well that he is walking on a difficult terrain with hardly any previous success story to cite, Nitish wants to don a new avatar with a social face and consolidate his electoral dividend earned after many social initiatives targeted to address women of the state – like 50% reservation in local bodies, free cycles for school girls and formation of a large number of Self Help Groups.

Of late, women in Bihar have emerged as a new vote bank as proved by their aggressive participation in the last elections. Being a seasoned politician who is well aware of his fragile and weak social base, Nitish is on a move to consolidate a new social constituency by taking an initiative affecting liquor addicts, mostly men.

On the political front, Nitish, who is eyeing a major role in national politics, has made prohibition a key campaign tool to project himself taller than his rival politicians, at least in matters of social initiatives. While championing his cause, Nitish aggressively pleaded for enforcing his model in other states during his public meetings. Be it in Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Haryana or in Jharkhand, Kerala and Maharashtra, he minced no words to denounce alcoholism and asked the state governments to enforce prohibition.

But interestingly, the same chief minister recently waived the tax on export and bottling fee on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer manufactured in his state. Not only that, under pressure from his main ally, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Kumar took a U-turn by lifting the ban on the sale and consumption of toddy in the state.

Through aggressive posturing as a pro-prohibition campaigner in the country, Nitish wanted to rebrand himself. The humiliating defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent alliance with arch-rival Lalu Prasad has put Nitish in a piquant situation. To ward off his “image crisis”, particularly after joining hands with Lalu Prasad, he desperately needs new platforms to recast himself. Kumar had carved his image very meticulously as ‘sushasan babu,’ particularly during the nine long years as chief minister in association with the BJP. He also made a brand of himself.

However, with the current partner, his chemistry may not be on the same wavelength as Lalu is also a regional player but with a stronger social base. At this juncture, Nitish is regularly facing political pressure from Lalu that sometimes even dents his image, like in the case of Shahabuddin and Raj Ballabh Yadav bail episodes.

Now, he needs to desperately outgrow Lalu in his native state. That could also help him assert his claim as an alternative leader in national politics.

(The writer is a Patna-based political analyst and the editor of bihartimes.com)

Prohibition law 
August 4, 2016: The Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill, 2016, passed by both Houses of the Bihar Legislature
September 7: Governor Ram Nath Kovind gives his assent
September 14: Cabinet approves Oct 2 as the date of notification, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti
October 2: Law comes into force Is the law draconian?
Law stipulates jail from 10 years to life for consuming alcohol or any contraband substance
Excise or police officer in the rank of SI or above can enter any premises at any time without warrant to inspect, search and collect samples
Any person found violating or trying to violate prohibition can be arrested without warrant
Owners who let out premises for consuming alcohol will be held guilty and sentenced to jail

Patna High Court observations

On arresting all adult family members
“There may not be a more draconian provision. A house may consist of several rooms occupied by different members of the family. A particular member violates the law, the family premises is up for confiscation. I may further illustrate that if two neighbours are on inimical terms, one could easily plant liquor in the neighbour’s premises, the neighbour, being unaware; still, by virtue of the presumption clause, not only he gets convicted but his premises also get confiscated.”

On arrests in trains and buses
“A person travelling by car or train and traversing the territory of Bihar, he is caught in a predicament that he is going from a state where there is no prohibition to a state where there is prohibition. He may be an army or defence personnel carrying his liquor ration or an ordinary citizen carrying his drink to his destination. Neither of them consumed the same in this state; still they are to be persecuted and prosecuted. Why?”

** The Supreme Court stayed the high court order which struck down the Bihar Excise (Amendment), Act, 2016, of March 31, 2016, and a notification it had issued on April 5, 2016, to enforce total prohibition in the state.

Shahabuddin’s Hall of shame
2007: Life term in CPI-ML leader Chotelal Gupta murder case
2007: 2-year jail in Keshav Baitha murder case
2008: 10-year jail for keeping unlicensed pistol of Pakistan make
2010: 10-year jail for attempt to murder the then Siwan SP S K Singhal in 1996
2015: Second life-term in a 2004 case where siblings, Satish and Girish, were killed after being bathed in acid

 Pending cases:
1. Murder of Rajiv, third brother of Satish and Girish, in 2014.  Rajiv was killed three days before he was to depose before the court
2. Munna Choudhary kidnapping case
3. Pratappur encounter case (trial on)
4. Attack on CPI-ML worker
5. Surendra Patel murder case
6. Attempt to murder a ‘mukhiya’  

A crumbling citadel
1990: Became an Independent MLA from Ziradei in Siwan. Later, shifted his allegiance to Lalu Prasad
1996: Became Lok Sabha MP from Siwan. Retained the seat in 1998, 1999 and 2004.
1996: During LS poll, accused of attacking Siwan SP. As the police try to arrest him, the SP is given marching orders.
    - JNU student leader
Chandrashekhar gunned down in Siwan
    - Shahabuddin made accused

2003-04: Bihar DGP D P Ojha orders arrest of Shahabuddin
    - Rabri government shows DGP the door
2005: Foreign-made weapons, foreign currencies, stolen vehicles, deer skin recovered during a raid at his ancestral house in Pratappur
    - Accused in 40 cases of murder, abduction and extortion
    - Gets bail in some
2006: Sent to high-security Bhagalpur jail after being arrested in Delhi in November 2005
    - Shifted to Siwan the same year.
2016:
- Sept 7: Patna High Court grants bail 
- Sept 10: Walks out of jail
- Sept 30: SC cancels bail

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 15 October 2016, 19:01 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT