Citizenship Amendment Bill: JDU’s abject surrender over CAB is no surprise! Nitish is a master of ‘U Turn’

While Muslim leaders of JDU are in private seething with anger, the party’s national vice president Prashant Kishor has questioned the very wisdom of his boss, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in supporting CAB

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
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Soroor Ahmed

Of all the NDA constituents it was the decision of the Janata Dal-United to vote in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Bill which came as a rude surprise and is being interpreted as an abject surrender by the party before the Bhartiya Janata Party.

“Yes, it may be a surrender. But do not forget that we have to go to Bihar Assembly poll with the same BJP after eight months,” conceded a very senior functionary of the Janata Dal-United, while talking to this correspondent. When reminded that his party abstained from voting at the time of Triple Talaq Bill and on the issue of Article 370, he said that the situation has changed since then. He denied that there was some confusion in the party over CAB and claimed that the decision to support this Bill was taken more than a fortnight back.

However, this party functionary acknowledged that the party may have to pay some price and has certainly lost the goodwill of many people, especially Muslims.

“The party chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is known for his flip-flop. Still, I used to appreciate him, but today he has shown his true colour and has lost all his respect,” Dr Hasnain Qaiser, who is associated with the Congress party confided.

Another Janata Dal-United functionary, who hails from Darbhanga district was appalled by the party’s move. Yet he is pining the hope that the CAB, once passed by Parliament and made a law, would be struck down by the Supreme Court of India.

While Muslim leaders of the Janata Dal-United are in private seething with anger, the party’s national vice president and once a blue-eyed boy of the chief minister has questioned the very wisdom of his boss.

The man is no one else but Prashant Kishor, now side-lined by Nitish.


Former diplomat Pawan Verma and retired CBI top official NK Singh also questioned the party’s decision.

Muslim leaders like the recent convert MAA Fatmi, the former Union minister, have been caught on the wrong foot. He had contested the last Lok Sabha poll from Darbhanga after his party, the RJD, gave the ticket to Abdul Bari Siddiqui. Ultimately both of them lost and the BJP won.

Fatmi then resigned from the RJD and crossed over to the Janata Dal-United. This was followed by an occasional shower of praise for Nitish.

Independent political observers are of the view that he had committed political suicide. He did not even realise that his son Faraz Fatmi is an RJD MLA.

“It is our ‘bewakoofi’ (folly) if we have not understood Nitish Kumar. After all, he is the oldest and most loyal friend of the BJP. He is essentially a communal man,” said Anwar-ul-Hoda, the general secretary of the Bihar chapter of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushwarat.

He was scathing in his attack on the Muslim leaders, especially turncoats like MAA Fatmi, who according to him can not see beyond their nose.

Another case is of Khalid Anwar, who was made MLC by Nitish just minutes after the end of April 15, 2017 Deen Bachao, Desh Bachao rally organised by Maulana Wali Rahmani, Amir of Emarat-e-Shariah in Patna. A day after the passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha, leaders of almost all the prominent Muslim organisations held a Press conference in Patna on December 10 to register their opposition. Maulana Rahmani was not present in it. Though the Press conference was held in the premises of Emarat-e-Shariah.

What the analysts in Bihar are questioning is the stand of Janata Dal-United over NRC. A couple of months back Bihar minister and Nitish's trusted lieutenant, Shyam Rajak, hit out at the Union minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh for alleging that there is a large number of Bangladeshi infiltrators. Rajak then rubbished Giriraj’s charge and said that there is no Bangladeshi in Bihar and that his party’s stand on NRC is certainly not that of the BJP.

But after the passage of the CAB, Bihar watchers are now sure that Nitish would once again buckle under the pressure over the issue of NRC.

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