Share
JP to BJP
Bihar after Lalu and Nitish
- Santosh Singh - Assistant Editor with The Indian Express
March 2021 | 340 pages | SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd
One day Green asked Saffron: What keeps you so vibrant?
Saffron smiled: A lot of green inside me.
Once upon a time, the eastern Indian State of Bihar provided space for socialism to take centre stage.
As a new government takes office in Bihar, the book JP to BJP: Bihar after Lalu and Nitish looks closely at the process of saffronisation that has taken place in this landscape, more marked than any other by milestones of political shifts and movements. Author, journalist Santosh Singh tracks the important Socialists on the national stage for the last 75 years; traces the rise and fall of Socialist and coalition governments in Patna and New Delhi; defines for us the sifting sand of opportunistic politics and an invisible future.
The book answers many burning questions such as: Why the man who had sought to counter Narendra Modi’s ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ line with his vow of a ‘Sangh-mukt Bharat’ walk away from being the emerging nucleus of Opposition politics? Which top RJD leader did Prem Chand Gupta accompany to meet BJP leader Arun Jaitley in Delhi, and why?
Saffron smiled: A lot of green inside me.
Once upon a time, the eastern Indian State of Bihar provided space for socialism to take centre stage.
As a new government takes office in Bihar, the book JP to BJP: Bihar after Lalu and Nitish looks closely at the process of saffronisation that has taken place in this landscape, more marked than any other by milestones of political shifts and movements. Author, journalist Santosh Singh tracks the important Socialists on the national stage for the last 75 years; traces the rise and fall of Socialist and coalition governments in Patna and New Delhi; defines for us the sifting sand of opportunistic politics and an invisible future.
The book answers many burning questions such as: Why the man who had sought to counter Narendra Modi’s ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ line with his vow of a ‘Sangh-mukt Bharat’ walk away from being the emerging nucleus of Opposition politics? Which top RJD leader did Prem Chand Gupta accompany to meet BJP leader Arun Jaitley in Delhi, and why?
Foreword by Rajkamal Jha
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Full Circle
Lohia To Mahamaya: The Arrival of Socialist Green
Karpoori Thakur: The Original Subaltern Hero
The Unsung Socialists: Ramanand Tiwary and Kapildeo Singh
Total Revolution: JP’s Movement and Making of Lalu and Nitish
The Congress: Not Quite Reading the Social Pulse
Lalu Prasad: Mandal Charioteer and Some Untold Fodder Tales
Nitish Kumar: The Development Man Who Turned Complacent
Ram Vilas Paswan: The Dalit Socialist Caught between Two Worlds
Saffron Journey: From Acceptance to Assertion
Tejashwi and Chirag: In Their Fathers’ Big Boots
The Churn: Bihar beyond Lalu and Nitish
References