Nov 6, 2010
Dear Mr Nitish Kumar
As you are poised to take over the realm of the second largest state in the country, Bihar the 2nd consecutive time, I feel like interacting with you directly over certain issues that I feel deserves due attention. You or even many of my friends may dismiss this letter as a publicity gimmick and question my locus standi to such an interaction. After all, why should a lone person without any political mass base and a non-Resident Bihari who does not even cast his vote in the state evoke your interest? Still I felt like writing an open letter to a man who is my Hero but yet there are shades of grey in his governance that is a matter of concern as well.
Mr Kumar, you may be more concerned with admirers and critics who matter the most as far as the political calculation of the state is concerned. But then all these admirers and critics also have some vested interest that has goaded them to their respective line of ideology. I have none. Still I am one of your ardent fans. As a non-Resident Bihari I have been quite vocal on the issue of Bihari Diaspora and their legitimate rights. And this is precisely the reason that you are my Hero as far as Bihar getting its pride back is concerned. Had it not been you turnaround performance as the Chief Minister of Bihar, the state would not have got its due place back. You have suddenly transformed Bihar into new power centre in this part of the world.
The average non-Resident citizen of Bihar is no longer living with subdued silence in exchange of a decent living across the country. The unprecedented development of the state in the last five years has equipped us with the kind of statistics that the outside world often wonders. Of course, it is also backed by the fact that many of those who left the state in the last couple of decades have made a mark with their impeccable merit, unquestionable hard work and live in a new aspiration driven economy. Still a large share of the credit for the new-found confidence goes to you. After all, it is not just about boasting our individual success, but the issue has been perception and projection of the state at large.
Though you have absolutely no background in media, you have successfully cultivated the art of media management and the positive perception and projection of the state is a Case Study in itself. It is due to this dramatic turnaround that a section of regional parties mooting the possibility of another Third Front Government at the Centre think of you as the future Prime Minister. If that happens and when that happens, we all will hold our head high with pride. And it is precisely such a big picture in vision that I am compelled to write this open letter to you.
As we at the TRACK2MEDIA Consulting conducted election forecast survey in Bihar, I was wondering as to how opinion on your government’s performance has been diametrically opposite in different pockets. I can understand that normally in any given election there is a sharp contrast between the macro level indicators and micro level sentiments. But in Bihar there has been something more than what average pollsters would have noticed. For the last few days the political commentator in me was trying to figure out whether development always translates into votes. My understanding of Indian polity and electoral politics says that the governments who have performed even decently have got reelected in a democracy like India where political overtones on every nook and corner are most often silenced by the voters at large who are generous with least expectation level.
However, there are very many visible examples where development has not translated into votes. The question is if development doesn’t translate into votes, what else can be done? Well, it is just a matter of looking at development with a holistic vision-development for whom and at what cost? when development is confined into select pocket, when there is absence of inclusive growth and when the fruits of development are not shared equally in the society; it leads to not only the process of political marginalization and resultant mobilization, but also leads to long term social unrest. I wonder whether already divided Bihar (on caste and other socio-political parameters) can afford such unrest.
I understand that by and large you have served your constituency (caste, class, geographical and political) reasonably well. The failure has been more on the part of your alliance partner who remained so clueless with sudden found power in Bihar that they started repeating the same mistakes that Congress did during its alliance with the RJD Government. The BJP failed to either create a separate constituency or serve the section that has been its traditional strength in the state. But then the BJP today appears to be more Congressised than the Congress itself. They are well known to follow the Congress in their quest to understand the intricacies of governance, and their corruption and lust for power at every level is a testimony to it.
As far as you are concerned, I, and many like me, expect you to be a statesman. A proven performer who can do wonders for the state. And it is in this perspective that I feel your second term as Bihar Chief Minister will be even more challenging. This can well be your make or break innings in the state. I am not saying this because there will be sky high expectations to deliver; rather I am more concerned with the fact that my Hero should set a new benchmark for the overall inclusive growth of the state. Destiny, after all, doesn’t favour those who take corrective measures only when confronted with the crisis. Even Laloo Yadav did his best when dethroned from Bihar to turnaround the Indian Railways. It proved to be too little & too late. I just wish that the visionary Nitish Kumar will not repeat the same mistakes.
Yours….
A Concerned Non-Resident Bihari
As you are poised to take over the realm of the second largest state in the country, Bihar the 2nd consecutive time, I feel like interacting with you directly over certain issues that I feel deserves due attention. You or even many of my friends may dismiss this letter as a publicity gimmick and question my locus standi to such an interaction. After all, why should a lone person without any political mass base and a non-Resident Bihari who does not even cast his vote in the state evoke your interest? Still I felt like writing an open letter to a man who is my Hero but yet there are shades of grey in his governance that is a matter of concern as well.
Mr Kumar, you may be more concerned with admirers and critics who matter the most as far as the political calculation of the state is concerned. But then all these admirers and critics also have some vested interest that has goaded them to their respective line of ideology. I have none. Still I am one of your ardent fans. As a non-Resident Bihari I have been quite vocal on the issue of Bihari Diaspora and their legitimate rights. And this is precisely the reason that you are my Hero as far as Bihar getting its pride back is concerned. Had it not been you turnaround performance as the Chief Minister of Bihar, the state would not have got its due place back. You have suddenly transformed Bihar into new power centre in this part of the world.
The average non-Resident citizen of Bihar is no longer living with subdued silence in exchange of a decent living across the country. The unprecedented development of the state in the last five years has equipped us with the kind of statistics that the outside world often wonders. Of course, it is also backed by the fact that many of those who left the state in the last couple of decades have made a mark with their impeccable merit, unquestionable hard work and live in a new aspiration driven economy. Still a large share of the credit for the new-found confidence goes to you. After all, it is not just about boasting our individual success, but the issue has been perception and projection of the state at large.
Though you have absolutely no background in media, you have successfully cultivated the art of media management and the positive perception and projection of the state is a Case Study in itself. It is due to this dramatic turnaround that a section of regional parties mooting the possibility of another Third Front Government at the Centre think of you as the future Prime Minister. If that happens and when that happens, we all will hold our head high with pride. And it is precisely such a big picture in vision that I am compelled to write this open letter to you.
As we at the TRACK2MEDIA Consulting conducted election forecast survey in Bihar, I was wondering as to how opinion on your government’s performance has been diametrically opposite in different pockets. I can understand that normally in any given election there is a sharp contrast between the macro level indicators and micro level sentiments. But in Bihar there has been something more than what average pollsters would have noticed. For the last few days the political commentator in me was trying to figure out whether development always translates into votes. My understanding of Indian polity and electoral politics says that the governments who have performed even decently have got reelected in a democracy like India where political overtones on every nook and corner are most often silenced by the voters at large who are generous with least expectation level.
However, there are very many visible examples where development has not translated into votes. The question is if development doesn’t translate into votes, what else can be done? Well, it is just a matter of looking at development with a holistic vision-development for whom and at what cost? when development is confined into select pocket, when there is absence of inclusive growth and when the fruits of development are not shared equally in the society; it leads to not only the process of political marginalization and resultant mobilization, but also leads to long term social unrest. I wonder whether already divided Bihar (on caste and other socio-political parameters) can afford such unrest.
I understand that by and large you have served your constituency (caste, class, geographical and political) reasonably well. The failure has been more on the part of your alliance partner who remained so clueless with sudden found power in Bihar that they started repeating the same mistakes that Congress did during its alliance with the RJD Government. The BJP failed to either create a separate constituency or serve the section that has been its traditional strength in the state. But then the BJP today appears to be more Congressised than the Congress itself. They are well known to follow the Congress in their quest to understand the intricacies of governance, and their corruption and lust for power at every level is a testimony to it.
As far as you are concerned, I, and many like me, expect you to be a statesman. A proven performer who can do wonders for the state. And it is in this perspective that I feel your second term as Bihar Chief Minister will be even more challenging. This can well be your make or break innings in the state. I am not saying this because there will be sky high expectations to deliver; rather I am more concerned with the fact that my Hero should set a new benchmark for the overall inclusive growth of the state. Destiny, after all, doesn’t favour those who take corrective measures only when confronted with the crisis. Even Laloo Yadav did his best when dethroned from Bihar to turnaround the Indian Railways. It proved to be too little & too late. I just wish that the visionary Nitish Kumar will not repeat the same mistakes.
Yours….
A Concerned Non-Resident Bihari
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