ED Raid On IAS Officer Could Further Widen Trust Deficit Between NDA Allies BJP And JD(U)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently raided multiple premises linked to Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sanjeev Hans and former member of the legislative assembly (MLA) Gulab Singh Yadav.

The search took place over 16 July and 17 July across locations not just in Bihar, but also in cities like Pune, Delhi, Amritsar, and Chandigarh.

The agency recovered multiple incriminating documents, a memory card, a pen drive, a computer hard disk, a passbook, a locker, jewellery, and luxury watches, among others.

Political Significance

The raid on Yadav is certain to have a political impact. However, Hans’ alleged closeness with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar makes the raid more significant, especially for the relationship between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) — the two main constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Hans is currently Principal Secretary of the Energy Department and also serves as Chairman and Managing Director of the Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited.

He is one of the few bureaucrats Kumar is said to have given a free hand, so much so that not even JD(U) members can put political pressure on him.

Besides, Kumar is known to be tough on corrupt bureaucrats through the Vigilance Department and the Economic Offence Wing.

With Hans under ED’s scanner, JD(U) may read the situation to mean that the BJP, by virtue of being the largest party in the central government, either does not trust JD(U) or wants to keep Kumar under check.

Neither is a good signal for the coalition.

JD(U)-BJP Dynamic

That being said, BJP has its reasons to be miffed with JD(U), chiefly due to Kumar and his close friend Saryu Roy.

In the last three weeks, Kumar and Roy have met at least twice. While nothing fructified during the first meeting, Roy announced a coalition between his party Bharatiya Jantantra Morcha (BJM) and JD(U) for the upcoming Jharkhand assembly election after the second meeting

For BJP, which has not even streamlined its strategy and resources for the election, it is a setback. 

Although the Jharkhand unit of JD(U) has denied any such coalition, Roy's announcement could be taken as a signal to BJP that besides the All Jharkhand Students Union Party (AJSUP), the interests of JD(U) also need to be taken care of during ticket distribution.

The silence of the national and Bihar units of JD(U) about the Roy situation is another indication that JD(U) wants to put pressure on BJP.

Incidentally, both AJSUP and JD(U) have Kurmis as the core vote base, albeit in different states.

Special Category Status

Besides possible seats in Jharkhand, JD(U)'s other big demand is the special category status (SCS) for Bihar.

This demand is more than a decade old and resurfaced in November 2023 in the wake of the caste survey and related datafication of poverty, inequality, and poor human development in Bihar.

JD(U) did not have political capital to make this demand. But ever since the results of the Lok Sabha election were announced, JD(U) has become one of the major planks of the Modi 3.0 government.

The demand has thus gained momentum, so much so that JD(U) is galvanising Bihar-based politicians in the government to back its demand.

During the first month of the new central government, it became clear that SCS is highly unlikely, especially since the administrative mechanism to provide SCS no longer exists. 

Jitan Ram Manjhi, the Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, recently said that demanding SCS is like banging one’s head against a wall, as government think tank NITI Aayog has already said that SCS won't be granted to any state.

Chirag Paswan, his Bihari colleague in NITI Aayog, said it is not wise to politicise the issue. Referring to provisions of NITI Aayog, Paswan said it is wiser and more pragmatic to seek a special package for Bihar than SCS.

“With this demand, you are distancing yourself from even the things that we can obtain. Let’s be practical and focus on what we can get immediately. We are demanding a special package on behalf of the NDA government for Bihar,” said Paswan.

Rajiv Ranjan from JD(U) is the third minister from Bihar in NITI Aayog. Sticking to the party line, he raised the demand for SCS, but added that if not SCS, a special financial package must be given to Bihar.

This is similar to the demand raised by Samrat Choudhary, the BJP Bihar chief and Deputy Chief Minister in the Kumar cabinet.

JD(U) and Kumar's fear is that the issue has been highlighted so much that anything less than SCS could be used by Tejashwi Yadav and his allies in the 2025 Bihar assembly election.

JD(U)'s Interests

For that election, JD(U) would also want to distance itself from the communally charged atmosphere to have the best chance of securing Muslim votes.

However, BJP leaders’ wayward statements are a major roadblock.

For instance, on 18 July, Giriraj Singh, a senior BJP leader and the Minister of Textiles, said allowing Muslims to stay in India after the partition was the biggest mistake. Such statements cause discomfort to the allies.

On the same day, Vinod Tawde, the Bihar in charge and national general secretary of BJP, said that if Tejashwi Yadav comes to power, he may redirect reservations for backward classes to Muslims.

While attacking Yadav would be fair game for Kumar, he wouldn’t want Muslims to be targeted. Kumar enjoys some goodwill among Muslims.

The last time when Biharis hoped for a better future, the JD(U)-BJP coalition was in charge. One would hope they can keep their differences aside and bow to vox populi.