We’re all familiar with deserters and turncoats. They’re not as uncommon as one would hope. But would you agree that Nitish Kumar simply takes the cake? Although many were anticipating it, I was, quite frankly, stunned by his behaviour. I did not believe a self-respecting person — even a politician — could stoop so low to place his own political survival way ahead of any principles and ideology he might espouse.
Since 2013, this is the fifth time Kumar has abruptly changed political allies in order to take forward his own political career. However, my colleague Ashok Upadhyay says if you go back to his break with Lalu Yadav and the Janata Dal to form the Samata Party in 1994, it’s the sixth occasion.
So you could ask why am I so surprised? For two reasons. First, I did not expect he could do it again. I thought he’d reached a point at which his credibility would be at stake if he did. Perhaps the second reason was more convincing. It’s what he said of the possibility of reuniting with the BJP and what that party said of the prospects of embracing him a second time. Both insisted it wasn’t on the cards.
Asked on January 30, 2023, just a year earlier, if he might someday return to the BJP, this is what Kumar said: “Mar jana kabool hai, unke saath jana humko kabhi kabool nahi hai. Yeh achhi tarah jaan lijiyega.” (Death would be acceptable but going with them can never be acceptable to me. You must understand this properly).
Just a few weeks later, on February 25, 2023, a similar query was posed to Union home minister Amit Shah. Would the BJP be willing to embrace Nitish Kumar once again? According to The Hindu, this is what he replied: “Enough of Aya Ram Gaya Ram, (the) BJP’s doors are closed forever for Nitish Kumar.”
Well, clearly Kumar has sought and accepted a fate he considered worse than death a year ago and Shah’s understanding of forever is not just temporary but of ludicrously short duration!
No wonder derogatory nicknames have proliferated. Not surprisingly, Shashi Tharoor has dug out a little-used American word. It’s “snollygoster”, a shrewd but unprincipled politician.
Today, however, my concern goes further. Has Kumar brought into focus a sad and sorry truth about Indian politics? This sort of opportunistic and repeated changing of allies would be not just unacceptable in any major western democracy but condemnable. It would destroy the credibility of the individual or party concerned. When the Liberals allied with the Conservatives in the United Kingdom in 2010, which, of course, cannot be compared to Kumar’s acrobatic somersaults, it was considered unprincipled and the party’s vote collapsed in subsequent elections. Not so in India.
Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh are just a few examples of how we behave differently and voters respond differently. In Madhya Pradesh, the turncoats who deserted Congress to bring the BJP to power continued to ride a high tide, culminating in a whopping majority in December last year.
Why do our voters accept this? Why don’t they punish politicians who betray the very basis on which they’ve been elected? Who clearly place their own preferment and fortunes ahead of any service to the people or commitment to beliefs.
I don’t have an answer although many are bandied about. They include the claim such politicians deliver to their constituents and the view their personal dexterity and political mobility are admired rather than derided. But they’re not convincing. They’re excuses or convenient, if lame, justifications.
Ultimately, the fault lies in ourselves, not in our stars. We knowingly vote for those who are in it for themselves — even if they occasionally share a bit — and don’t stand for any bigger goal or greater good. As long as that continues, the Nitish Kumars of India will have a free run of our politics. And our future.
Karan Thapar is the author of Devil’s Advocate: The Untold Story. The views expressed are personal
Karan Thapar is a super-looking genius who’s young, friendly, chatty and great fun to be with. He’s also very enjoyable to read. ...view detail
Turncoats thrive in politics because voters allow them
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03.02.2024
We’re all familiar with deserters and turncoats. They’re not as uncommon as one would hope. But would you agree that Nitish Kumar simply takes the cake? Although many were anticipating it, I was, quite frankly, stunned by his behaviour. I did not believe a self-respecting person — even a politician — could stoop so low to place his own political survival way ahead of any principles and ideology he might espouse.
Since 2013, this is the fifth time Kumar has abruptly changed political allies in order to take forward his own political career. However, my colleague Ashok Upadhyay says if you go back to his break with Lalu Yadav and the Janata Dal to form the Samata Party in 1994, it’s the sixth occasion.
So you could ask why am I so surprised? For two reasons. First, I did not expect he could do it again. I thought he’d reached a point at which his credibility would be at stake if he did. Perhaps the second reason was more convincing. It’s what he said of the possibility of reuniting with the BJP and what that party said of the........
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