 Summary of this article
- The absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the new Bihar CM’s swearing-in ceremony sparked lots of speculation
- Several leaders within the party had reservations about the fact that Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary was relatively new to the BJP and had no organisational background in the Sangh.
- Samrat has served as a minister under three chief ministers,Rabri Devi, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Kumar, and handled more than five departments. His political rise within the BJP has been particularly rapid
Newly appointed Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary recently sparked a controversy at a public function held in Patna on April 17 to congratulate him. When an elderly Muslim party worker offered the CM a skull cap, he took the cap in hand but declined to wear it. Later, he reportedly accepted a shawl presented by the same worker and wore it. Samrat’s refusal to wear the cap was a stark contrast to his predecessor, Nitish Kumar, who was photographed quite often in public wearing a skull cap and was a regular attendee of Eid prayers at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan.
Even after he teamed up with theBharatiya Janata Party-led NDA,Nitish’s public outreach to the minority community and gestures signalling his commitment to communal harmony carried on unabated. Samrat, who has made political history by becoming Bihar’s first CM from the Bharatiya Janata Party, faces many challenges; among them, the task of carrying forward Nitish’s model of governance, and perhaps even more importantly, retaining the confidence of his own party. Much of the political discussion around his appointment has revolved around a single question: how independent a leader will Samrat be within the BJP? |
