Nitish’s ‘Sorry, Not Sorry’ Moment: JDU Chief Was Made to Apologise to DMK’s Stalin Over ‘Hindi’ Remark

Nitish Kumar, who has now joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar, quitting the Opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), was made to apologise to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin for his “should learn Hindi" remark, according to Congress sources.

Kumar made this remark at the INDIA meeting in New Delhi on December 19.

As he was addressing the meet, DMK’s TR Baalu was unable to understand what Kumar was saying. Baalu then asked Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Member of Parliament (MP) Manoj K Jha, seated on the other side, to translate. As Jha sought permission from Kumar, the latter flared up, saying: “We call our country Hindustan and Hindi is our national language. We should know the language."

Kumar then asked Jha not to translate his speech.

According to Congress sources, as Kumar’s name started doing the rounds for the post of convener, a number of parties in the alliance were against this, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and DMK. The Congress decided to be a bridge between these parties.

Congress leaders convinced both Stalin and Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray in favour of Kumar. Later, Kumar was made to call Stalin on January 4, in which the former apologised for his remark, said sources. Stalin accepted the apology.

According to Congress sources, the party and INDIA leaders got to know about Kumar’s plan to switch to the BJP’s side four to five weeks ago. Still, honest efforts were made to stop him.

In the last virtual meeting of INDIA partners, leaders of 13 parties, except TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, were present. At the meeting, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury was the first to propose Kumar’s name for the post of convener, which was supported by leaders of all parties. Banerjee was not present at the meeting, hence it was decided that she should be informed before the formal announcement. But at the last moment, Kumar proposed that the chairman of INDIA should be from the Congress and Rahul Gandhi should accept this post.

Gandhi understood Kumar’s game and immediately said that the president and senior leader of the Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, is absolutely worthy of this post, said sources.

With Kumar leaving the INDIA alliance, there will be fresh talks on seat-sharing in Bihar between the RJD, Left and Congress.