If Modi had turned the Hunkar rally into a personal war front, Nitish just did the same in his party’s convention. But in both cases, the people of Bihar were deprived of listening to real issues and their solutions by both leaders.
The competition between Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and his Bihari counterpart Nitish Kumar has been running since BJP started showing tilt towards the former when it came to national leadership. The war remained folded in several layers and was only indicative. Whether it was Nitish’s denial to Modi’s entry inside the state for addressing any gathering or latter’s silence when it came to speaking about Nitish and his development man image, the war was always ‘cold’.
This is perhaps the first time when both the opponents are baring it all in public.
At his Hunkar rally in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan, Modi used quite strong words to describe his opponent Nitish. Calling him uncouth and a traitor, Modi had questioned Nitish’s credibility. The whole rally was turned around by Modi to insult Nitish launching attacks from various sides on him.
Nitish Kumar tried to answer Modi’s allegations by launching a counter attack while addressing his party’s convention in Rajgir. Taking a dig at Modi’s bitter speech, Nitish said that Gujarati’s were known as biggest consumers of ice-cream but that sweetness was lacking in Modi’s speech.
He even showed his discomfort with the rally’s name itself. “What kind of name is this? Hunkar? It drips of arrogance,” he said.
If the Sunday rally was about Modi and projection of his humble background, Nitish Kumar made his party convention all about his ego. He said that he may not have been a “tea vendor” but he does come from a very modest home and had no privileges.
Alleging that the BJP was opportunist, Nitish held the party responsible for the breakup of their alliance with it. He said that the party needed Nitish and his team then. When they are done with JD(U)they are using bad language against it.
Indicating that he did not believe in Modi’s potential to help BJP rise to the level that various surveys are predicting, he said, “Vote surveys will keep coming out but it is only entertainment. It is all hype. It is a very big conspiracy.”
Given that BJP’s old stance revolves around Lord Rama and the fact that Modi, in order to woo Yadav’s through his rally, said that he had taken blessings of Dwarkapeeth, Nitish said, “First they used Lord Rama and now they are remembering Lord Krishna.”
If Modi had turned the Hunkar rally into a personal war front, Nitish just did the same in his party’s convention. But in both cases, the people of Bihar were deprived of listening to real issues and their solutions by both leaders.
