When the BJP started realising that it cannot come to power alone in India in mid-1990s, it extended its hand of friendship towards some secular and socialist friends. While the communal Shiv Sena and Akali Dal were always with it the Janata Dal (United)––then known as the Samata Party––under the leadership of George Fernandes was the first secular outfit to join hands with it. Various Socialist parties have a history of befriending the then Jan Sangh in Maharashtra, Gujarat and even in north Indian states in 1960s.
However, after the demolition of the Babri Masjid the BJP became an outcaste of a sort in the secular circle, but the Samata Party was the first to break this taboo. This was soon followed by Biju Janata Dal, a party with unique name. Perhaps no party in India has been floated simply on the basis of any name. Even the Congress (I) or Congress Indira was called so because after the split it was easy to identify it. Yet Navin Patnaik a decade ago formed a party in the name of his father, Biju Patnaik. Incidentally Biju was out and out anti-BJP and even refused to share power with it in 1989.
The hung Parliaments of 1998 and 1999 provided the BJP with an opportunity to allure several secular parties. The Telugu Desam, Trinamool Congress, Asom Gana Parishad, Indian National Lok Dal, AIADMK etc. became its partners.
However, when the Samata Party or Janata Dal (United) in 1996 befriended the BJP for the first time Nitish Kumar then told his Muslim friends that it was a tactical move as he wants to fight his close friend-turn-rival Lalu Prasad. He repeatedly made it clear that ideologically he remains committed to secularism.
Today almost all the major secular friends of the BJP have deserted the National Democratic Alliance. The last one to do so is Biju Janata Dal. However, the Janata Dal (United) remains the most loyal and oldest of all its secular allies. The track record of Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes during the Gujarat riots is known to all. While Nitish was the Railway Minister when the infamous Godhra train burning incident took place, George made a famous statement that it was not for the first time in the country that Muslims have been massacred. Was it just a tactical stand? May be.
However, in 2009 the secular Janata Dal (United) remains the most vocal champion of Lal Krishna Advani. But can it still be called a tactical move? The all-powerful Nitish claims that he had developed Bihar too much, that he had done enough for the minorities and that he had kept the communal elements under control and all sections of the society are with him. If this is the case then why he is still carrying the BJP and so stoutly canvassing for Advani, the man who led the demolition of Babri Masjid, to become the chief minister.
After all Navin Patnaik’s government came into minority as it was relying heavily on the BJP. Yet it snapped its ties and managed to win trust votes. Had Nitish done so a couple of months back, he could have easily got the support of Lok Janshakti Party and may be some Congress MLAs. Even many in the RJD would have crossed over to it.
In 1990 Lalu Prasad, who was running a minority government – his party had only 126 MLAs in the Assembly of 324 – yet he threw Lal Krishna Advani into jail and overnight became a hero. When the BJP moved trust vote in the Assembly, Lalu managed to split the BJP legislative party in Bihar. This was the first time in the history that the Hindutva party split and that too at the height of the saffron wave.
The truth is that today Janata Dal (United) is not in tactical alliance with the BJP but has complete ideological understanding with it. The state has hardly made any progress, nor has the condition of Muslims improved. In fact the budgetary allocation for minorities has been slashed by half – from 0.34 per cent in the past regime to less than 0.17 per cent this year. In all the jobs and competitive exams the number of Muslims have almost halved. Bihar has witnessed 27 per cent fall in the agriculture production and not a single industry from outside came to invest in the state. These facts are available not in any opposition party’s document but in the Economic Survey published by the state government in the last two years. Yet, like the fascists, the ruling combination is making full use of false and baseless propaganda machinery. Nitish and his men know that the NDA cannot win on the so-called development plank. Therefore, it is just relying on the bogus ideology of Hindutva. It is not for nothing that a few months back he publicly shared platform in Patna with the then RSS chief, Sudarshan.