Agnipath fire : Endgame of JD(U)-BJP alliance plays out in Bihar

Mumbai: Desperate times call for desperate measures and Janta Dal (United) Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar knows this only too well. Kumar had announced his last electoral venture before coming to power in alliance with the BJP but, now, his alliance government is slowly but surely crumbling in Bihar.

Last week, he sacked party spokesperson Ajay Alok, general secretaries Anil Kumar and Vipin Yadav, and party leader Jitendra Neeraj from the primary membership, in a move to pre-empt BJP efforts to effect a virtual split in his party. All four were close to JD(U)’s sole Union Minister in the NDA government, RCP Singh, who has been a close friend of the Bihar CM for over 24 years.

The endgame is in sight in Bihar, given that the JD(U) chief did not re-nominate Singh for the Rajya Sabha, where his term expires on July 07.

The last four days have also witnessed sustained incidents of arson and disruption of law and order over the Centre’s Agnipath recruitment scheme for the armed forces, with the Railway Ministry pegging the collateral damage at Rs200 crore. That Kumar holds the Home portfolio is not in small measure being blamed for the unchecked violence and mayhem in the state.

JD(U)’s alliance partner, the BJP believes the Bihar CM wants to provoke it into bringing down the government, thus opening up his path to formally tie up with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.

As president of the BJP’s Vyapari Aghadi in Mumbai Mahendra Jain tells First India, “What we are witnessing is stat-sponsored violence in Bihar. The Agnipath scheme was the brainchild of the late General Bipin Rawat but was kept under wraps for two years due to the pandemic. Over 40 countries including Israel have successfully implemented a similar army recruitment strategy to nurture its people into an elite segment of militarily trained professionals.” Further, the Union government is also investigating the alleged role played by private coaching classes across not only Bihar but also Uttar Pradesh to foment violence over the Agnipath scheme, with central agencies likely to take over the investigation if the Bihar CM fails to stem the current crisis.

Clearly, the days of the JD(U)-BJP government in Bihar are numbered.