How Biharis figure zero in Modi's plans
On August 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Gaya to give a boost to his party's campaign in Bihar ahead of the Assembly polls. He has very liberally appreciated the talents of the Biharis. He said, “Bihar has contributed the most in the country's development. There is no state which doesn't have an IAS or IPS from Bihar". The prime minister added, “Bihar has given a lot to the whole country. Be it science, traditions or history, there is no subject whose discussion does not begin with Bihar”. He went on to say, "Take any TV channel and you will see people from the Bihar reading news".
Clearly, Modi was suggesting that Biharis were immensely talented but their talent had not been used by successive ruling dispensations of the state under Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar. It means Modi recognises the talent of the people of Bihar and the need of using it to its optimum. The prime minister assured that if his party formed the government in Bihar, it would rectify Lalu and Nitish’s flaws and seek to tackle the problem of brain drain that the state was facing.
But has Modi been giving ample opportunities to the people of the state? Let’s examine how his government and party have been using the talent from Bihar.
Cabinet committee on security (CCS)
In a cabinet system, the most important and powerful body is supposed to be the cabinet committee on security. The CCS decides on India's defence expenditure, matters of national security, and makes significant appointments. Let’s see its composition.
1. Prime Minister Modi. He is from Gujarat and represents Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha.
2. Home minister Rajnath Singh. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
3. Minister of external affairs, Sushma Swaraj. She is from Haryana and represents Madhya Pradesh in the Lok Sabha.
4. Minister of finance Arun Jaitley. He is from Delhi and represents Gujarat in the Rajya Sabha.
5. Minister of defence, Manohar Parrikar. He is from Goa and represents Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha.
Number of people from Bihar in this body = 0
During the ten years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) too, there was no representation from Bihar in this body. But during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure, it always had at least one representative from the state in the form of George Fernandes and Yashwant Sinha.
Margdarshak mandal
According to the BJP’s organisational protocol, this is the party’s highest body. But practically, it is defunct and has never had any meeting after its formation.
Composition:
1. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He is from Madhya Pradesh.
2. Narendra Modi. He is from Gujarat and represents Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha.
3. LK Advani. He stays in Delhi and represents Gujarat in the Lok Sabha.
4. Murli Manohar Joshi. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
5. Rajnath Singh. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
Number of people from Bihar in this body = 0
Parliamentary board
This is the most important body of the BJP. All important decisions of the party have to be endorsed by it.
Composition:
1. Amit Shah. He is from Gujarat.
2. Narendra Modi. He is from Gujarat and represents Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha.
3. Rajnath Singh. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
4. Arun Jaitley. He is from Delhi and represents Gujarat in the Rajya Sabha.
5. Sushma Swaraj. She is from Haryana and represents Madhya Pradesh in the Lok Sabha.
6. M Venkaiah Naidu. He is from Andhra Prdesh and represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha.
7. Nitin Gadkari. He is from Maharashtra.
8. Ananth Kumar. He is from Karnataka.
9. Thawar Chand Gehlot. He is from Madhya Prdesh.
10. Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He is from Madhya Pradesh.
11. Jagat Prakash Nadda, He is from Himachal Pradesh.
12. Ram Lal. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
Number of people from Bihar in this body = 0
Vice presidents
Though this post is more decorative in nature but sometime the party’s vice presidents are assigned the charge of states.
1. BS Yeddyurappa. He is from Karnataka.
2. Satya Pal Malik. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
3. Parsottambhai Rupala. He is from Gujarat.
4. Prabhat Jha. He is from Madhya Pradesh.
5. Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. He is from Maharashtra.
6. Renu Devi. She is from Bihar.
7. Dr Dinesh Sharma. He is from Uttar Prdesh.
8. Om Prakash Mathur. He is from Rajasthan.
9. Shyam Jaju. He is from Maharashtra.
10. Avinash Rai Khanna. He is from Punjab.
Number of people from Bihar in this body = 1
General secretaries
After the president, the most important functionaries in the party are general secretaries.
BJP general secretaries:
1. P Muralidhar Rao. He is from Telangana.
2. Ram Madhav. He is from Andhra Pradesh.
3. Saroj Pandey. She is from Chhattisgarh.
4. Bhupendra Yadav. He is from Rajasthan.
5. Kailash Vijayvargiya. He is from Madhya Pradesh.
6. Arun Singh. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
7. Dr Anil Jain. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
8. Ram Lal. He is from Uttar Pradesh.
Number of people from Bihar in this body = 0
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition got 31 seats out of 40 in Bihar with an overwhelming 44 per cent vote share. It shows that the people of the state overwhelmingly voted for Modi. The prime minister is aware of the talent of the people of the state. But when it comes to rewarding the state with adequate and quality representation, sadly he hasn’t done what he claimed to have in Gaya.