The Mystery of Nitish’s Health and his decisions

The opposition and people in general have negative opinions about the health of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, and his awkward behaviour on several occasions on public platforms testifies to it.  Yet, the chief minister is taking one measured decision after another, giving a lie to the public perception of his health.

Psychiatrists are of the opinion that the chief minister's current condition exhibits tension and insecurity overwhelming his mind. People suffering from such a condition are unable to take balance decisions.  May be his advisors are taking decisions instead of he himself.  People suffer from this condition due to shrinkage of the brain in advance age. With advancing age, it becomes impossible to treat it.

Along with opposition leaders, NDA partners are surprised over it. A section of people believes that the health of the chief minister has definitely deteriorated in the past few months but it is not so bad that anybody could take advantage of mental condition and get him to make a decision in his favour.

Had it been so, his partner BJP could have exploited his condition to have him take decisions favourable to their Hindutva agenda. BJP wanted to take credit for the proposed construction of Maan Janki Mandir at Sitamarhi but Nitish denied it to his senior partner and took the kudos himself. He made it clear at the foundation laying function of the temple that Rs 800 crore budgeted for construction of the temple will be borne by the state government.

At the puja, when Nitish Kumar showed his inability to sit along with Amit Shah on the ground, a chair was brought for him to sit in. He also did not permit the priest to apply tika on his forehead at the conclusion of the puja.

People close to him attributed his behaviour to his inability to sit cross-legged and allergy to colours. He also avoids playing Holi due to this allergy. But his die-hard supporters gave it a political colour. They said Nitish refused to sit along with Shah as he considered himself superior to Shah.

As to the refusal to apply tika, they said he wanted to keep his secular image free of the BJP paint. Though he invited condemnation from different quarters for his behaviour, the critics got the answer that he refused tika to not antagonise Muslims.

Later, he refused to be honoured with a skull cap by Minority Welfare Minister Jama Khan at a Madarsa Board function in Patna. He put the cap back on the head of the minister. His message was clear. He does not want to be caged into the Hindu- Muslim binary. Actually, the Madarsa function was a political gathering to mobilize Muslim votes for the next Assembly election. No BJP ministers were invited to the function where speakers waxed eloquent on what the government has done for the Muslims in the state.

Normally, of the two deputy chief ministers of BJP, Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, either of them gets an invitation at any official function. At another function at Gaya, Nitish made it clear in the presence of prime minister Narendra Modi that he never practised discrimination on the basis of caste and creed while implementing development projects.

He further emphasised that Bihar under his governance did more for the Muslims than any other state governments in the country. Gaya has a sizable Muslim population.

The chief minister could have skirted around the Muslim minority issues on the stage in honour of the sanatani design it had been set up. But he preferred to give a clear message that the BJP Hindutva agenda has no impact on him. Despite being in coalition with BJP, he will continue to tread on his chosen path, he asserted.

Another politically significant point that people have taken note of is that projects having a bearing on a large number of people, the chief minister announces them on his X handle in the morning. BJP also gets to know about them from his posts on X.

The decisions to give free power up to 125 units, to raise social security pension from Rs. 400 to 1,100 and the new industrial policy were announced on his X handle. Interestingly, draft industrial policy was available on his X account two hours before it was approved by the cabinet.

Nitish also got BJP central leadership to restrain Chirag Paswan from taking the state government to task. He had been speaking against the deteriorating law and order. Nitish took up his wayward behaviour with the BJP leadership. Chirag suddenly changed tunes thereafter.

Forgiveness does not have a place in Nitish Kumar's dictionary. He does not let anyone go scot free whether it is union minister Lalan Singh or JDU national executive president Sanjay Jha or Chirag Paswan, who had rocked Nitish's boat in the 2020 Assembly election.

Nitish’s abnormal behaviour in public gives an impression that he is not keeping his mental health well but his decisions and political alertness and speeches tell a contrary story.

He has not lost his political sagacity and seems to be quite alert to the dangers that may come his way. But the spectacle he creates in public is an indication that his mental degeneration is progressing to a point where he might not be in a position to run affairs of the state government if JDU returns to power.

It would be better for Bihar, his party as well as for himself to come clean on his health so that he is not forced to leave the boat midstream for others to row it ashore like former US Democrat president Joe Biden.