After Rs 59k-cr package for Bihar, Nitish buries special status demand, for now

Buoyed by the announcement of special development schemes worth Rs 59,000 crore by the Narendra Modi government, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has buried the special category status demand — at least for now.

The chief minister told The Federal that the special category status demand has been done away with for the time being in view of the special schemes announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the presentation of the Budget in Lok Sabha on Tuesday (July 23).

“Motive was to get benefits for Bihar”

“I am extremely thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the bundle of schemes unfolded for Bihar. It will definitely accelerate the pace of development in the state. I hope the Centre will continue to provide assistance to Bihar in future too, as per the state’s requirements,” he said.

Nitish said that he has been seeking special help for Bihar, and the Centre had announced several development projects and schemes. “Our motive was to get benefits for Bihar with additional allocation,” he added.

To a question whether the demand for special category status would remain alive, he said, “We have been demanding special status but it was closed long ago. Therefore, we wanted special assistance for the development of Bihar. Things have started rolling now.”

Schemes for Bihar

The major schemes for Bihar include road connectivity projects worth Rs 26,000 crore, including the Patna-Purnia Expressway, the Buxar-Bhagalpur Expressway, and a two-lane bridge over the Ganga in Buxar. A 2400-MW power plant will be set up at Pirpainti in Bhagalpur district at an estimated cost of Rs 21,400 crore.

Bihar will also receive flood assistance of Rs 11,500 crore under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme. It will be spent on projects like Kosi-Mechi intra-state link.

Under the Purvodaya plan, the Centre will support development of an industrial node at Gaya on the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor. It will also support comprehensive development of Vishnupad Temple Corridor, Mahabodhi Temple Corridor, and Nalanda to develop them as tourist destinations. Rajgir, which is important for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, will also be developed.

The special schemes also include the construction of new airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure besides capital investments through additional allocation.

Origin of Bihar’s demand

Nitish had begun demanding the special category status for Bihar after the landslide victory in the state Assembly elections in 2010 as constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). His Janata Dal (United) had won 115 seats, while its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had won 91 seats out of the 243 seats in Bihar.

Since then, Nitish had raised the demand on every platform, including in National Development Council (NDC) meetings, and sent a flurry of letters to the Prime Minister and memoranda to the authorities concerned.

In November 2012, Nitish had held the Adhikar Rally in Patna where he slammed the then UPA government led by Manmohan Singh for discriminating against Bihar by denying it special category status and announced to fight till the demand was met.

In March 2013, at Delhi’s Ramlila ground rally, Nitish had even claimed that his support would be crucial for forming the government at the Centre after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, and he would support only such parties that accorded special category status to Bihar.

Why demand was rejected

The then UPA government had rejected Bihar’s repeated pleas to accord special status for its rapid development. Nitish had exhorted people to vote for only that party in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that would promise to grant it special category status.

On repeated demands of Nitish Kumar, the Centre had set up an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) to look into its veracity. The IMG asked the Bihar government to present its arguments. In its report, the IMG rejected the demand saying that Bihar did not fulfil the criteria of it being a hill state, with a predominantly tribal population and low population density.

Nitish had argued that Bihar gets ravaged by recurring floods from rivers emanating from Nepal. Besides, the state lagged behind in terms of per-capita income, consumption of electricity, lack of infrastructure and on health indices.

A climbdown?

But his acceptance of the special schemes package for Bihar is being viewed as a climbdown from his aggressive posture adopted till the recent past on the issue of granting special category status to Bihar. He may revive the issue if the “flow of financial assistance” does not continue in the next five years.

“It is a good beginning from the Centre. We hope that Bihar continues to get the required financial assistance in different sectors to accelerate its growth trajectory. We are part of the NDA government, which is bound to share the burden of developing the backward states like Bihar,” the chief minister said.

RJD’s altered role

Ironically, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which was part of the UPA government that rejected Bihar’s demand for special status in 2012, is now championing the cause. The RJD legislators stalled the proceedings of the Bihar legislature on Tuesday, blaming Nitish Kumar for succumbing to the pressure of the BJP leadership.

Bihar Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, however, said in the state Assembly that the House should express its gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the highest ever assistance to the state.

It may be viewed as a climbdown by Nitish but the shrewd politician that he is, he is not bound to stick to the NDA if the buck of assistance stops. The 2025 Assembly elections will be crucial for his political survival and he can go to any extent to win and continue as the chief minister of Bihar.