Nitish faces stone pelting during Yatra: what are the stones saying?

Nitish faces stone pelting during Yatra: what are the stones saying?

Chausa, Buxar: the usually well-managed PR of the Nitish government is now showing some gaping holes. It also seems the mainstream journalists are now fairly tired of monotonously positive reporting. Thus when the carcade of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was attacked by irate villagers in Bihar’s Buxar district on Wednesday, it received wide attention in the press, indicating a sense of spitefulness unseen before. A top cop in the denial mode however told the press that nothing much happened and a few children may have thrown stones at the official cars. Eye witnesses nevertheless report that the unruly crowd had a very coherent slogan to shout – ‘stop Sewa Yatra, start Jan Yatra’, perhaps conveying the message that Nitish’s yatras and durbars have over time turned into empty bureaucratic rituals.

The message conveyed by the stones? The villagers were peeved over non-construction of roads and poor power supply. When the villagers tried to stop the CM’s procession, they were driven away and the officials chose a route where the roads are far better so the CM remains unaware of problems faced by the villagers. The incident took place at Chausa in western Bihar, some 200 kilometres from the state capital, where Nitish is continuing with his three-day Sewa Yatra. Buxar is the fifth district the chief minister is touring during the second phase of the yatra. Wednesday’s attacks have also given his rivals enough ammunition to launch a tirade against him. The attack on convoy, despite the presence of an army of police, showed the quantum of people’s anger. Nitish’s magic is on wane and he should read the writing on the wall, instead of indulging in propaganda of “good governance” and “speedy growth”, said Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan.

He pointed out that similar incidents of attack had taken place in Motihari and Samastipur too, even though the incidents went largely unreported. CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya too was critical of Nitish’s yatra. “Getting reward or certificate from Canada and other newspaper houses won’t usher growth in Bihar. The people of the state have to actually benefit from the fruits of development. But the incident vindicate our stand that all these talks of growth and development is a hogwash,” said Bhattacharya.

The well-known opponents of Nitish will say what they must say but the JD [U] circles surely need to huddle up to check if their smugness is now going a bit far. The trouble with charisma is all it takes is a little kid pointing a finger at the emperor and calling him naked.