Spending a lifetime in active politics can be such a phenomenon for some politicians that even their deaths cannot remain untouched by a bit of politicking. The recent deaths of two top Bihar leaders perhaps bear ample testimony to the state’s acrimonious political landscape.
Chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar on Monday faced criticism from a section of the BJP for allegedly not showing “adequate respect” to his departed former JD(U) colleague and sitting MP Digvijay Singh, whose mortal remains were consigned to the flames at Nayagaon in Jamui district with full state honours. Digvijay Singh, a former Union minister, had passed away in London on Thursday.
Some BJP leaders, including a senior BJP minister, said it was “improper” for Mr Kumar not to announce a state mourning and holiday for late Singh like that for late JD(U) minister Sudha Srivastava, who had expired a day before Singh.
“It was a very improper and indicated lack of adequate respect for a departed leader of Digvijay Singh’s stature. He had played a crucial role in the JD(U)’s rise in Bihar’s and the nation’s politics,” said Giriraj Singh, a senior BJP leader and minister for cooperatives in Mr Kumar’s Cabinet.
Mr Kumar and other top leaders such as RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had offered their last tributes to late Singh at Patna Junction railway station after his body arrived there from Delhi on Sunday. However, Mr Kumar was absent at Singh’s funeral.