Bihar’s rulers: Tiger Nitish versus romantic Lalu

Patna, Feb. 24: Sher Shah Suri is chief minister Nitish Kumar’s inspiration for a better Bihar.

During his recent visit to Bihar, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen praised the Delhi ruler, also known as the Tiger King, and held him up as an ideal leader, under whose rule Bihar flourished. It seems that the chief minister agrees.

Nitish who has earned people and media’s praise for building roads, bridges, hospitals and schools is now said to have suggested that his ministers and staff take lessons from what the Noble laureate had suggested — to redeem Bihar’s past glory.

Taking a leaf out of the lectures, Nitish has also been studying Sher Shah’s governance and has suggested that “his people” do the same.

And the chief minister’s sudden interest has inspired JD(U) leaders to move a step forward and compare Lalu Prasad with Shah Jahan, the 17th century Mughal ruler whose interests chiefly centred around his begum and architecture (again as some would point out chiefly dedicated to his beloved wife).

“Nitish is similar to Sher Shah as he has build infrastructure in his state. Lalu Prasad has groomed his wife, a political rookie, to rule the state and has developed the Indian Railways around her Selarkala village.

“Thus, he is our Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal to immortalise his wife Mumtaz,” said JD(U) general secretary Shivanand Tiwary.

Not to be outdone, state JD(U) chief and MP Lallan Singh added: “The comparison is apt. In his last days imprisoned by his son Auranjeb, a politically inept Shah Jahan looked out at the Taj Mahal falling back on the memory of his beloved wife. Similarly, Lalu Prasad resorted to his wife, saddling her as the state’s chief minister, when the law sent him behind bars.”

Though bitten, the RJD supporters are yet to come out with an equally sharp repartee.

However, while comparing Nitish with Sher Shah and Lalu with Shah Jahan, the enthusiastic JD(U) cadre appear to have missed a vital point. Shah Jahan’s rule is also referred to as the “golden age” of the Mughal empire that witnessed the construction of some of the greatest Indian monuments such as the Pearl Mosque, Diwan-I-aam, Diwan-I-khas, besides the Taj Mahal.

It is not known how the comparison — that would be referred to constantly during the coming election campaigns — will influence the two stalwarts, but Nitish Kumar appears to be ahead in the race, as of now.

The Nitish Kumar-led government has given Bihar as many as 150 bridges and more roads.

At the New Delhi meeting of the planning commission yesterday, Montek Singh Ahaluwalia profusely praised Nitish for carrying out a “successful experiment” of building roads in Bihar through public-private partnership model.

Source : The telegraph