With Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar all set to begin his most elaborate and politically far-sighted tour of Bihar called Seva Yatra on Wednesday, the state’s Opposition parties are fuming at the move, calling it drama and a drain on public money.
But rural roads in several places across Bihar, lying neglected for years, have been freshly repaired for the yatra in recent weeks and Mr Kumar, who held a meeting with all district magistrates three days ago, is unfazed by the rising criticism and looks determined to make a success of his plans. The multi-phase yatra, the JD(U) stalwart’s sixth such tour of Bihar in the six years he has been CM, is beginning from West Champaran, the fabled springboard of Mahatma Gandhi’s epic Indian freedom and reform movement.
Mr Kumar and leaders of both the ruling allies — the JD(U) and the BJP — have been asserting that the tour, likely to last over 100 days, will give him an extensive opportunity to examine from close quarters the salient features of his innovative governance model the NDA often projects as the ideal for the whole nation. But most JD(U) leaders are also expecting that this tour, if accomplished satisfactorily, could turn into a positive future game-changer for the party’s expert traveller and reluctant prime ministerial aspirant.
Since each of Bihar’s 38 districts is going to have Mr Kumar for three to four days at a time during the course of this yatra, officials everywhere are busy streamlining welfare schemes with the most direct links with the common people. In his meeting with all district magistrates and SDOs in Patna on Saturday, Mr Kumar specifically asked them to ensure, among other tasks, obstacles be removed from the way of PDS functioning and land disputes be resolved speedily. A police campaign to arrest absconding criminals has also started in several districts to douse public anger and facilitate Mr Kumar’s smooth journey. “Each phase of the yatra will cost about `1.33 crore, and the whole tour will cost about `43 crores. All this is public money being wasted on drama like this,” said RJD leader and RS member Ram Kripal Yadav.
Congress leader Premchand Mishra said: “This yatra is basically a political move. The net gains for people from Mr Kumar’s earlier five yatras have been little.”
Vehemently disagreeing, JD(U) state president V.N. Singh said: “There are different ways of seeing things. The Opposition parties have always engaged in negative politics, but Bihar is now on the high path of development.”