Book on Bihar’s Journey From Socialism To Saffronisation

Here's a book that aims to explore the story of conflict, confusion, and co-existence of the Socialist green and the BJPs saffron in Bihar.

"JP to BJP: Bihar after Lalu and Nitish" (Vitasta-Sage Select) by Santosh Singh reveals the inside story of Chief Minister Nitish's somersault, how BJP President Amit Shah had forced Nitish's return to NDA by opening the Arun Jaitley channel, how former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad spends his time in jail (in the fodder scam), and other such unknown details.

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While the book dwells at length on these little-known stories of the three products of the JP Movement — Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar, and late Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan – it recounts the parallel journey of the Socialists' struggle against the Congress.

It is also the story of the Socialist movement in India from the time of Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Basavan Singh, Suraj Narayan Singh, Karpoori Thakur, Ramanand Tiwary, Kapildeo Singh, Lalu Prasad to Nitish Kumar.

BJP will unfold its Bihar plans with more clarity. Flickr

The author takes up a whole range of questions and conundrums of the politics of Bihar from the 1930s onward and attempts to piece together this puzzle. The book further delves into the details of former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar's Bihar plans and poll strategist Prashant Kishor's plans for the eastern state.

Want to read more in Hindi? Checkout: बसपा विधायक मुख्तार अंसारी को वापस लाने के लिए योगी सरकार की नई शुरुआत

"This book is special in the sense that nothing of this sort has been written so far on Bihar. While it tells the story of the formation of Triveni Sangh, a forum of three caste groups in Bihar, it also tells the story of Tejashwi Yadav. Karpoori Thakur has also been a less told story. I have tried to weave in nuggets from his time. It has been extremely satisfying and fulfilling to weave together the great Bihar story, from Dr. Srikrishna Singh to Nitish Kumar with a lot of contemporary elements,", Santosh Singh, the author, said.

The title, he said, "is living up to the current political situation with Bihar politics now becoming a battle between the BJP and the rest".

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With six JD-U members in Arunachal Pradesh joining the BJP, "the alarm bells are ringing for Nitish Kumar. Just wait till the UP elections in 2022, BJP will unfold its Bihar plans with more clarity. BJP's arrival is just a matter of time. The only thing to watch out for is whether all socialist groups can come together to stop the saffron party's juggernaut. Tejashwi Yadav and Chirag Paswan are also leaders to watch out for, while Kanhaiya Kumar and Prashant Kishor can spring some surprises," he added. (IANS)