Is Nitish Kumar indispensable for the NDA?

For the last two days the media has made a great deal of news out of the Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar rivalry. In Nitish Kumar's interview to The Economic Times, he puts forward a couple of qualities that he thinks that the Indian Prime Minister should have. This comes in the backdrop of Modi's projection in the Mumbai National Executive of the BJP and Modi's comment that caste politics is the reason for Bihar's backwardness. A closer look at the interview actually suggests that Nitish constructed these specifications to exclude only Modi. It is really sad that a seasoned and respected politician like Nitish Kumar has sparked off a completely useless debate on secularism. 


Nitish thinks that the muslim voters in Bihar will abandon him if he supports the BJP led by Narendra Modi. But Nitish's own secular credentials in the past are highly questionable. The Godhra train incident happened under Nitish's tenure as the Railway Minister. He did not do a thing then- not even investigate it. This suggests that if his ministership is on the line he is ready to put up and shut up. 


It is infact good for the NDA that Nitish Kumar has raised the issue well in advance. Modi gets sufficient time to respond to the questions. And Modi being Modi will definitely try to change his image after the Gujarat elections this year and be more acceptable to leaders outside the BJP. 


In a hypothetical situation even if the JD(U) leaves the NDA before the 2014 general elections, Nitish Kumar has no place to go. He shares an uneasy relationship with the congress in Bihar and his rivals Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan are part of the UPA at the centre. He will have to join the NDA after the elections if they are in a position to form the government. 


Modi has a well laid out plan for his smooth entry into the national arena. He has roped in reliable allies like Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal and Jayalalitha's AIADMK. It is possible that he has already factored in the possibility of the absence of JD(U) in case he is declared as the NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate. The BJD and the AIADMK would more than make up for JD(U)'s numbers. He has also been keen on the BJP's progress in Gujarat.


The BJP should not allow Nitish Kumar to dictate terms to the NDA and show him his place since it is the JD(U) which needs the NDA. Shiv Sena, the Akali Dal and even Mohan Bhagwat have come out in support of Modi. The BJP leaders should follow suit, support Modi's cause and show the JD(U) that they can survive without them since Modi is the only leader with them capable of leading the alliance to victory in 2014. 

Narendra Modi- Our Only Hope

Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has warned in a report titled 'Will India Be the First BRIC Fallen Angel?' that India could lose its investment grade credit rating and could become the first BRIC angel to see a downgrade. The agency also said: “Slowing GDP growth and political roadblocks to economic policymaking could put India at risk of losing its investment-grade rating.” It traces the roots of this failure to the dysfunctional relationship between Manmohan Singh and left leaning policies that Sonia Gandhi endorses. 

Yet the government's response to the report has been very disappointing. Pranab Mukherjee rejected the report and most of the congressmen ridiculed the report for its failure to understand Indian politics. Another shocker is India's Index for Industrial Production (IIP), for April just grew by 0.1 percent. 

It also appears as though the government has outsourced all of the macroeconomic policies to the Reserve Bank of India which can only respond by either cutting or hiking the interest rates. Today's Economic Times says the government is planning to impose additional tax of Rs 1,70,000 on small diesel cars and Rs 2,50,000 on sedans and SUVs. This will disrupt the demand and destroy the Indian auto market-one of the biggest in the world. More sane approach would have been to hike the diesel prices and decrease the petrol prices by a small amount to maintain balance and prevent excessive dieselisation of the economy all the while keeping the interest rates in check to prevent run-away inflation. This economic mismanagement will have long term effects and leave us very vulnerable to the Euro Zone crisis which is yet to hit the world. 

Policy paralysis and economic mismanagement arising from the dysfunctional relationship between the all powerful Sonia Gandhi-who holds no responsibility and the unelected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is today dragging India-once a miracle economy to junk status. Now it seems like Narendra Modi is the only hope for the Indian economy. He is the only leader in the country today who has risen above scoring petty political points and talking about development and reforms. The wonderful interview he gave recently to the Economic Times (read the full interview here http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-06-07/news/32101241_1_narendra-modi-prime-minister-red-carpet ) reaffirms our faith in his leadership. This tortured country surely deserves him and he is our only hope.