Manmohan Singh is labouring today under the stigma of having failed to check the rot of corruption in which his party and ruling alliance are immersed. Notwithstanding the clean chits from Nitish Kumar and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen about his personal integrity, the prime minister cannot escape the blame for having presided over what is probably the worst scam-ridden government ever. In contrast, Nitish Kumar is emerging as an icon who is regarded with pride by ordinary people and with envy by politicians.

The difference between the two is made all the more stark by the similarities of their respective political positions. Both run coalitions. But while Manmohan Singh was patently unable to control cabinet colleagues like Andimuthu Raja, as was apparent from the Supreme Court’s surprise that the latter could be discourteous towards the prime minister, the Bihar chief minister maintained an iron grip on his allies. So much so that the BJP had no option but to keep one of its own icons, Narendra Modi, out of Bihar because the chief minister would not allow his Gujarat counterpart to set foot in the state lest he alienated the minorities.

If only Manmohan Singh had been equally firm with Raja once it became clear that he was becoming a grave liability, he would not have had to take a new year pledge to provide a clean administration. Arguably, the DMK is a more troublesome ally for Manmohan Singh than the BJP is for Nitish Kumar. But it has to be remembered that at the national level, the BJP is a bigger party than the Janata Dal (United). Besides, the BJP heads the NDA. But the BJP’s No. 1 position did not deter Nitish Kumar from asserting his rights as the chief minister.

Today, he may have become a larger-than-life figure, but he wasn’t so earlier when he turned deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP virtually into a cipher, literally hounded the BJP’s minion George Fernandes out of the JD (U) and defied his own party’s president Sharad Yadav on the women’s reservations bill. He had also shown his disdain for the BJP by agreeing with the Rajinder Sachar committee report on the minorities. By thus stamping his authority on the Bihar scene, Nitish Kumar was laying the cornerstone of his resounding electoral victory, which would make him the most admired person of 2010.

It was not only in the matter of letting his partner know who was the boss which characterized Nitish Kumar, he also showed a determination to curb lawlessness which few politicians had shown before. By incarcerating hundreds of anti-socials, he made Bihar’s roads and homes safe after a long time, leading to a 45 per cent surge in automobile sales because people could travel in increasing numbers with their wives and children and stay out till late at night without fear.

Since shops and business establishments did not have to down their shutters by 8 p.m. as before and contractors and engineers could concentrate on rebuilding the state’s infrastructure instead of living in fear of extortionist criminal gangs, Bihar’s growth rate of 11.3 per cent rivalled that of Gujarat. This single-minded focus on development contrasts sharply with Manmohan Singh’s stalled economic reforms since he cannot overcome the Congress’s “socialistic” resistance to a further opening up of the economy.

But Nitish Kumar’s most notable achievement has been in the matter of checking corruption. Where the Congress has been forced by public opinion and opposition pressure to talk of fast-track courts, the chief minister has taken determined steps in this regard on his own, punishing bureaucrats via a law enacted in 2009 and setting up schools in their confiscated property. He now intends to draft another law which would make officials respond to public complaints within a specified period.

Manmohan Singh’s failure has been his inability to use the fund of goodwill which he enjoys in the country and outside because of his honesty and intellect to push through his own agenda. The only exception was the nuclear deal, but he might have failed even there if Rahul Gandhi did not support him and the Samajwadi party did not switch its allegiance from the Left to the Congress. Nitish Kumar did not have the benefit of any such reservoir of widespread admiration. At least initially, although he has now built up his band of wide-eyed acolytes. But he has done so by proving that he is a doer par excellence. (IPA Service)