In the midst of conjectures of volatile vibes between the BJP and its ally in Bihar, the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s English mouthpiece Organiser has published a no-holds-barred interview of expelled JD(U) leader Ajay Alok who strongly criticised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and said the ‘sushashan babu’ lost the support of both Hindus and Muslims due to his ‘appeasement politics’.
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Interestingly, the interview, published in the latest edition of the magazine, came just a month after it had published an article criticising the Nitish government following the JD(U)‘s demand for a review of the armed forces recruitment scheme Agnipath.
The interview, also available on video on the magaine’s Youtube channel, is a little over 30 minutes, where Mr. Alok castigates Mr. Kumar’s policy of prohibition, stating that it has caused massive loss of revenue in Bihar and lead to the thriving of a parallel economy governed by liquor mafia.
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He adds that a huge chunk of money in Bihar is being used in prohibition which is a waste of resources and further alleges that due to the liquor ban, consumption and peddling of drugs has massively increased.
“In appeasing women and Muslim voters, we have lost the Hindu voters as well. Muslims never vote for JD(U). In 2020, we saw that even Hindus didn’t vote for us,” he said.
Mr. Alok says that Bihar is suffering due to “uncomfortable allies” and adds that he will not be surprised if Mr. Kumar joins hands with the RJD. He maintains that the BJP should take the lead in Bihar under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The JD (U), on June 14 this year, suspended four leaders, including its spokesperson Mr. Alok, for ‘anti-party’ activities. It claimed that Mr. Alok was running parallel programmes against the party line, but sources in the JD(U) maintained that the action came due to intimacy with senior leader and Union Minister RCP Singh whose Rajya Sabha nomination was denied by the party which made him lose his Cabinet post. Mr. Singh was considered to be cosying up to the BJP at the Centre, a charge denied by all concerned.
At a time when the BJP’s national leadership is trying hard to show that “all is well” between the party and its ally in Bihar, and with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan being sent twice to sort things out, the editorial choice of the RSS-backed magazine hints that all may not be as it should between these two parties.