Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took full control over his party Janata Dal (United) on Friday, after Lalan Singh resigned as party president. Lalan Singh proposed the name of Nitish Kumar for the post of party president at the two day meeting of the national council in Delhi. He said, he would be busy in his constituency during the forthcoming Lok Sabha election and would be unable to carry on with the responsibility of party chief. For the last three days, Lalan Singh, Tejashwi Yadav, K C Tyagi and Vijay Chowdhary had been trying their best to shroud this development in secrecy and were openly telling lies on camera. They were blaming the media for speculating on a development that ultimately took place, but for several days, they were consistently denying any such possibility. At the national council meeting of JD(U), all the leaders present knew what was going to happen. Nitish Kumar had told Lalan Singh about his plan for change of guard five days ago in Patna. Yet he did not trust him fully. There were strict instructions to the leaders not to reveal anything to the media till the time Lalan announced his resignation.
Nitish Kumar had hectic consultations with Lalan Singh, and on Friday, he took him in his car to attend the meting. At the meeting, Nitish "humbly accepted" the responsibility of party chief and left with Lalan Singh. In Patna, Upendra Kushwaha, who was once JD-U vice president, and broke away from the party early this year to form his Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal said, he was not surprised over the development. He alleged that Lalan Singh was following instructions from RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, because of which Nitish removed him from the post of party president. Another former JD-U leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, who was unceremoniously removed as chief minister by Nitish Kumar, and was recently described as an "ass" by the chief minister inside the assembly, disclosed that he had met Nitish a few days ago and had warned him not to make the mistake of appointing Lalu's son Tejashwi Yadav as the chief minister. Manjhi revealed that Lalan Singh had taken 12 to 13 MLAs a few days ago and had told Nitish to make Tejashwi the new CM,. Nitish immediately smelled a conspiracy and made up his mind to remove Lalan Singh from party chief post. Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh described the entire development as "Lalu's game". He said, Nitish has been caught in the spider's web. Singh said, Lalu has decided to anoint his son Tejashwi as CM, but Nitish is unwilling to quit. In Patna, Tejashwi Yadav described the change of guard in JD(U) as an internal matter of that party and said it would have no impact on RJD-JD(U) relations. He blamed BJP for floating conspiracy theories. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it is pertinent to point out how JD(U) leaders were blaming media for spreading lies during the last few days.
On Thursday, Tejashwi Yadav was describing media reports about Lalan's ouster as "baseless speculation", but these proved true on the very next day. I have no complaints about Lalan Singh telling lies, or Tejashwi making false statements. The common people know that leaders do tell lies in public. My only complaint is that both these leaders blamed journalists for reporting the truth, and used foul words against some newspapers and news channels. Lalan Singh had alleged that reporters were reading from scripts prepared by BJP. But the truth was out on Friday. The script for change of guard in JD(U) was jointly written by Nitish Kumar and Lalan Singh. Tejashwi Yadav knew the truth, but these leaders were deliberately speaking untruths in public. It has now become a fashion for most leaders, who, in order to hide the truth, blame media for spreading untruths. Not only Lalan Singh and Tejashwi Yadav, but also leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav blame the media whenever they find it convenient. They openly say in public meetings that the media is "afraid" of Modi and his government. The fact is, these leaders are themselves afraid, they make political somersaults and deceive each other, but they blame media for spreading "lies". Where is the guarantee that Lalan Singh will not stab Nitish Kumar in his back? Where is the guarantee that Lala and Tejashwi will not pull Nitish down? Where is the guarantee that Nitish Kumar will not make another somersault as 'paltu Chacha' and deceive Lalu again?
My view is: whatever these leaders may say or do in politics, or make somersaults, they should desist from blaming media for their problems and electoral defeats. Leaders should allow reporters to do their jobs fearlessly and they should stop being angry over the comments made by editors. For such leaders, I want to quote an Urdu couplet of Krishna Bihari Sharma 'Noor": "Sach Ghate Ya Badhe, Toh Sach Na Rahe, Jhooth Ki Koi Inteha Hi Nahin.....Chahe Sone Ke Frame Mein Jad Do, Aaina Jhooth Bolta Hi Nahin". (Literal meaning: Truth never remains so, if you add or subtract, there is no limit to lies.... even if fixed inside a gold frame, the mirror never lies).
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