Band Of Brothers

Has Nitish Kumar given up on Bihar? That was the first thought that crossed my mind while watching both the sons of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tej Pratap and Tejaswi, take oath as ministers in Patna on Friday. Both sons got important portfolios, Tejaswi was declared the Deputy Chief Minister. It goes without saying that both the sons have barely attained the minimum age of 25 to contest elections.

Nitish Kumar will of course be hoping that the two young men would be kept on a tight leash by their father. But one wonders whether he took the liberty of advising discretion, advising his 'Bade Bhai' to at least delay the induction of the sons into the ministry. It would have been prudent for both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav to watch the performance of the young men first, for a year at least, and then decide if they could be entrusted with ministerial responsibilities. But their induction now, when they are yet to prove themselves, is unfortunate.

There was speculation for some time that while Lalu Yadav did not want either son to join the ministry—at least not yet—his significant other felt otherwise. A Patna-based journalist claimed that there was a civil war like situation in the Lalu Yadav household. One of the sons, the elder one in fact, was reputed to be a volatile character who was said to have attempted suicide when it was suggested that he should not contest the election. There was speculation that the RJD chief was forced to allow both his sons to contest the election but that his heart was with the younger son. Some Bihar observers had even claimed in private that the RJD chief would have been happier if the elder son had lost the election.

The younger son, Tejaswi, did appear more media savvy and more politically conscious of the two. This feeling was strengthened when he was deputed to share the platform with Rahul Gandhi in one of the election rallies. A Facebook post suggested that the Yadav Junior had delivered a better speech than Rahul Gandhi and had stolen the thunder. But the fact that he is still a greenhorn and a school dropout weighed in with critics who wondered if Lalu would be right in foisting even one of his sons on Nitish Kumar.

In a perceptive comment in the Business Standard earlier this week, Chaitanya Kalbag had drawn a parallel between Nitish-Lalu on the one hand and the fables of Vikram-Betal on the other. Like King Vikram, he suggested, Nitish was bound to carry the ghost of Lalu Yadav on his shoulder in his fresh tenure as chief minister. And with both sons of Lalu Yadav getting into the ministry, it would appear the worst suspicion of those who were anticipating a return to 'Jungle Raj' is turning out to be true. Nitish Kumar would be carrying the burden of Lalu Yadav on his shoulder.

One can find little justification for the two junior-most or youngest MLAs of the RJD being given preference over more experienced, more popular and better qualified among the flock. Lalu Yadav in the past had paid the price for giving a free rein to the two brothers-in-law, Subhash and Sadhu Yadav. One fears that his two sons would also be instrumental in embarrassing him, if for nothing else but for their inexperience. If the duo had some political sense, they themselves should have offered to stay out of the ministry, offering to learn the ropes as legislators first. That they did no such thing is a reflection of their political immaturity, ambition and impatience while strengthening the apprehension that they take their legacy for granted.

Given a choice, would Nitish Kumar have agreed to induct the two in his ministry? One suspects he had no say in selecting RJD MLAs for ministerial berths. But as chief minister he would be held responsible for his ministers' conduct and misconduct; he would be facing political barbs and would have to defend the omissions and commissions of his ministers.

Inexperience of the ministers often gets exposed on the floor of the Assembly, watched by both the media and visitors. Critics of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav would be waiting for this to happen. 

On the day results of the Bihar election came in, the vanquished BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi was graceful in defeat but struck a grim note of caution. Pointing out the contradictions in the ruling coalition , the BJP leader had suggested that Lalu Yadav, by virtue of heading the single largest party, would do the back-seat driving in the Government and reduce Nitish Kumar to the status of a lame duck chief minister.

However, both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav would be aware that they are unlikely to get another chance at governance. Both of them would be more than 70 years old when the next election is held. And unless their coalition government performs exceptionally well, anti-incumbency will catch up with them. They will, therefore, try undoubtedly to prove their critics wrong. But politics can be unpredictable and they may not have any control over unforeseen events.

So, one is forced to keep the fingers crossed. But the induction of the two untested brothers in the ministry has already given out a wrong but entirely avoidable signal.