Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's Adhikar Rally on Sunday turned out to be sort of mother of all rallies ever held at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna insofar as the turnout is concerned, and it sent out a strong message to Delhi which Kumar articulated thus: It is the rally of 'aam awam', or common people, of Bihar who think that the special state status is their birthright; if the Centre doesn't give them this right, the struggle will spill over to Delhi where a massive rally will be organized in March.
It was the first major political rally organized by Kumar since he came to power in November 2005, and by all accounts it was an unprecedented gathering, much bigger than the Indian People's Front's anti-Bihar Press Bill rally in October 1982 or CPM's Halla Bol Rally in October 2003 or, for that matter, RJD chief Lalu Prasad's Garib Rally and Lathi Rally in March 1996 and April 2003 respectively - at the sprawling ground. Even the then Samata Party's rally organized by Kumar in October 1994 was smaller.
Old-timers who attended the Kumar's Sunday show as well as Loknayak JP's public meeting at the same venue on January 30, 1977 after emergency was lifted described the two rallies as cousins. JP had fought for Sampoorna Kranti, Nitish is fighting for special state status to Bihar. "I will take rest only after Bihar gets the special tag," thundered Kumar as deafening roars of support for the CM and the cause espoused by him rent the air.
He said Bihar MPs would play a decisive role in the formation of next government at the Centre after the 2014 parliamentary election and "our main poll plank will be the special state status". He appealed to the Prime Minister to constitute a committee to change the formula under which the special state status is granted to states. He, however, regretted the PM had not given an appointment to him to discuss the issue since 2006.
Kumar also listed the achievements of his government during the last seven years and claimed the state had taken huge strides on health, road construction, electricity, governance and law and order fronts.
While JD-U president Sharad Yadav, state party president Bashishtha Narain Singh, ministers, MPs and MLAs also addressed the gathering, the hero of the day was CM Kumar who was, interestingly, described as 'mahilaon ke dil ki dhadkan', or women's heartthrob, by his industries minister Renu Kushwaha and 'Bharat ka vavishya', or the future of India, by his rural works minister Bhim Singh.
