The grandeur of the “grand alliance” in Bihar is dissipating with each passing day. What started off as a path-breaking experiment in realpolitik with three major parties in the state showing their readiness to find common ground to fight a common rival – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – is fast heading towards irreconcilable positions and ultimate break up.
If the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the biggest constituent of the ruling alliance, is the chief reason for the current impasse thanks to serious charges of corruption against that party’s ‘first family’, the Congress Party, the smallest of the three partners but the one with the longest political experience, is also not without blame in bringing the situation to such a head.
Because of its five-decade-long supremacy at the federal level, the Congress Party has never been comfortable with coalitions, either at the centre or in the states. But when survival itself becomes a major question, pre-poll, post-poll adjustments and alliances have to be resorted to and coalitions formed, especially when the main rival is threatening to run away with everything.
There was much chariness about a Congress-RJD alliance because Lalu Yadav was a prominent foot soldier of the ‘JP movement’ which took on the Emergency-embroiled Congress regime of Indira Gandhi and brought it to its knees. The Janata Party won all 54 seats from Bihar in the 1977 Lok Sabha polls which saw the decimation of the Congress and Lalu Yadav had played his part in that history-making defeat.
But if a week is long time in politics, then decades can easily bring old enemies together and that’s what happened in 2015. 
The BJP, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its star campaigner, had hoped to reap it rich in the wake of the fine showing (22 of 40 seats) in the Lok Sabha elections a year before. But Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-United (JDU) succeeded in forging an alliance first with the RJD and then, somewhat reluctantly, with the Congress against which he too, like Lalu Yadav, had fought the bitter Emergency battle.  
Spokespersons of the BJP had predicted that the “unholy alliance” would not last. More unbiased observers had warned of difficulty for Nitish Kumar in managing a coalition of incongruences. Everyone knew that Lalu Yadav would eventually turn out to be unmanageable. So, it was the added responsibility of the Congress Party to see that the partnership worked without unnecessary hiccups because the Congress was fighting for relevance in the state and another five years without getting a look-see into the corridors of power would have finished off the party there.
And when it is the Congress’ responsibility, it naturally falls on the shoulders of Rahul Gandhi because party president Sonia Gandhi’s health is not what it used to be and she cannot be expected to keep watch on what Lalu and company are up to. But the Congress vice-president is a will-o’-the- wisp even to his own party leaders, so Nitish or anyone else will have to deal with those lower down the pecking order in the Congress.
In fact, that’s what Nitish had been doing for these past two years. The Congress Party’s Bihar unit chief Ashok Choudhary has been doing his best to offset the absence of Rahul Gandhi but he can go only up to a point beyond which only the party ‘high command’ has the authority to act.
Last month, the JD(U) announced its support for Modi’s choice of Ram Nath Kovind for president because, according to Nitish, the Congress leadership, meaning Rahul Gandhi, did not consult him on what the opposition strategy should be in the presidential race.
Gandhi, in fact, was far away from the scene. He was in Italy reportedly attending to his sick grandmother.
He was back in Delhi after everything was settled on the presidential election. Neither Gandhi nor his party said anything about his grandmother’s health afterwards, so it is safe to assume she is better.
Gandhi’s lacklustre leadership was again on display last week when he met the Chinese envoy to discuss the standoff between the two countries on the common border with Bhutan. When television channels came out with “exclusives” on Gandhi’s meeting, the Congress Part’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala called it “fake news”. Even the Chinese embassy removed the news from its website. Everything went back to normal but later in the day Gandhi himself tweeted that he did meet with the envoy and discussed the border issue with him. 
Opposition leaders often meet up with foreign envoys, including those from countries that are hostile to India, but such meetings are well documented and given adequate publicity. In fact, such meetings at times yield new ideas and solutions to outstanding issues and the government of the day is always kept informed by the leader in question. But Gandhi’s meeting had a cloak-and-dagger aura about it when even his own party was kept in the dark.
Gandhi also became the butt of ridicule for his flippant reaction to last week’s massacre of Amarnath pilgrims. Gandhi tweeted that the massacre occurred because Prime Minister Modi had “created space for terrorists in Kashmir” by trying to pursue “short-term political gains” when, in fact, terrorists had been active in Kashmir for more than two decades and if Modi or the BJP had to be blamed, an equal, or more, blame has to be placed on the Congress Party’s door.
Modi must consider himself very lucky in having Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the main opposition party. For, as long as the Congress continues to dote on its first family scion and as long as the Congress remains the only other party of national relevance, Modi will have no worry about fending off a possible challenge to his power. Unless, of course, Modi digs his own pit!


No meat please, we’re Indians!
In 1987 American Airlines famously removed one olive from the salad bowl of its first class passengers and reportedly saved $40,000 at the end of the year. There have been as many denials as there have confirmations about this quirky sleight of hand by American but if indeed it was true, it is a safe bet that the high-paying passengers had barely noticed it.
Air India is not American Airlines, not by a long mile. And its decision to remove non-vegetarian fare from its ‘cattle class’, as economy class is often derisively described, on domestic flights has been noticed by everyone.
“This is a cost-cutting measure and more such will follow,” said Ashwani Lohani, the airlines boss. And pray, how much will the savings be? “Our estimate is we will save around Rs80mn or about $1.15mn per year.” Compared to what American saved, that’s a lot of money. 
Saving every penny is the way to go when you are hard-pressed but compared to the humongous Rs400bn debt that the airline is carrying, savings from this meal plan is chicken feed. Moreover, when all things are equal in terms of ticket prices and flight timings, passengers may opt for other private airlines that serve better choice of food. What started as a measure to save money could well end up as one that leads to more losses!
The Modi government is seriously discussing how to be rid of Air India. A ministerial committee headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is deliberating on the best possible means to sell the airline. Reports of possible suitors making their rounds of the government offices have already emerged. What the airline least needs at this time is any controversy, even in the name of cost-cutting, especially one with doubtful results. Or is Air India simply showing the herd mentality and following the right-wing Hindu agenda that seeks to nuance Indians’ eating habits?