The philosophical journey of a chief minister

Saba Naqvi

There is in our country a very special ‘antaratma ki awaz’ (voice of conscience) that hovers above us, ordinary human beings, who occasionally grapple with what is right or wrong. The physical body that this ‘antaratma ki awaaz’ inhabits and uses as a vessel to express itself is that of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

It apparently speaks through him every now and then, whereupon he acts in ways that shapes the political destiny of the country. In his own words it spoke to him when he ended a long-standing arrangement with the BJP over the candidature of Narendra Modi as PM. At that time this voice of conscience thought that Modi was communal and a danger to the country and hence it used the person of Nitish Kumar to not let Modi destroy the social fabric of Bihar. 

This voice of conscience was so committed to an outdated principle called secularism that it even drove the person of Nitish Kumar to turn for help to his old political foe, Lalu Yadav (who always had a mass base in spite of criminal convictions) to help him return to office in Bihar. 

Now again that ‘antaratma ki awaaz’ has spoken and Nitish Kumar, the medium, has revealed it to the world. This is a startling message, somewhat complicated, but then anyone who understands philosophy would know that what was wrong yesterday can be right tomorrow because all is an illusion and nothing is permanent and we need to adjust to the temporary nature of things...

It’s deep stuff so to understand the various levels at which it operates: you could sit in a lotus position and meditate or have a smoke since you can’t have a drink in the wonderful state that Nitish Kumar rules and will continue to rule till the BJP decides that he is not fit to rule…   

But we are getting ahead of the story because first, this voice of conscience revealed to Nitish Kumar that he may have erred in describing Modi as communal. He is actually a great leader who tweets congratulatory messages and what was communal yesterday need not be communal tomorrow. After all, no less than the Buddha had said that do not dwell on the past but concentrate your mind on the present moment. With Bodh Gaya not far from Patna, no doubt Nitish Kumar has absorbed the message of the Buddha and, therefore, attained a measure of enlightenment. 

The voice of conscience has also revealed to Nitish Kumar that corruption is suddenly a greater crime than communalism because the TV channels that used to once idolise him no longer do so and they say he was wrong in tying up with the corrupt Lalu Yadav (never mind that over the years Nitish has dispensed favours and tickets to history sheeters). 

The voice of conscience also told him that it’s okay to stab your own partner in the back particularly when he is under attack from the CBI and ED because he and his entire family should be in jail. It’s okay to kick a man when he is down, said the voice. It’s all okay as long as the goal is pure and, in this case, it is the desire to be CM and henceforth remain on the right side of Narendra Modi and give up misguided dreams of being PM yourself. The voice explained that ego should not stand in the path of progress.   

The ‘antaratma ki awaaz’ had a slightly tougher time figuring out how to explain to the person that is Nitish Kumar that he now needed to go against the mandate of the people that had voted for him and Lalu against the BJP. But then the voice also explained to him that sometimes it was necessary for the greater good to take steps that people may not understand immediately but could understand after the passage of some time.

Again some complicated philosophical concepts had to be understood to grasp the message of the voice of conscience. (To quote the Buddha again: I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done). Hence the voice posed a question to the person that is Nitish Kumar that why let a mandate stand between a politician and high office? Especially when office is what counts and not the mandate of the people. 

It’s been a struggle for Nitish Kumar to try and serve the people when his ‘antaratma ki awaaz’ keeps disturbing his life. Once it compelled him to resign when he was a railway minister and a terrible accident took place. On another occasion it compelled him to resign before a trust vote in 2000 that he would have lost anyway. 

For in the end, Nitish is a good man and no doubt the voice of conscience will continue to illuminate his path both in the temporal and spiritual world.