Sushil Kumar Modi is nearly a year younger to 66-year-old Nitish Kumar. Politically too, he had played Nitish's deputy. Modi was sworn in as deputy chief minister of Bihar on Thursday after some dramatic turn of events saw Nitish Kumar returning to the NDA fold.
This is the third time that Modi is becoming the deputy chief minister of Bihar with Nitish Kumar as his boss. A soft spoken leader, Modi was even accused several times by his own party men of being too soft on Nitish Kumar even when the latter had “humiliated” the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in 2010. In 2015, when the state went to polls, BJP did not name anyone as their CM candidate. Sushil Modi was considered too polite.
Known as the other Modi in the BJP, Sushil Modi had carved an independent identity for himself. Even when others in the BJP switched loyalties to the rising star Narendra Modi after he was anointed as BJP's prime ministerial candidate in 2013, Sushil Modi was dignified in his support for Nitish Kumar. It was only when Nitish Kumar broke ties with the NDA over the issue Modi being PM candidate that he finally attacked him.
In Bihar’s raucous politics, Sushil Modi's speeches and statements have been in keeping with the political propriety. Unlike the other firebrand leaders from the BJP stable in Bihar, he was the voice of reason. During the past three assembly elections, though he was never projected as the BJP's face, he was the most recognisable brand from the saffron fold in the state.
He has been associated with the RSS since his student days. In 1973, he was chosen as the general secretary of the Patna University students union—the same year Lalu Prasad Yadav was elected as its president. He then became active in the JP movement during the Emergency and was even jailed several times. In fact, it was on his PIL that fodder scam case was investigated against Lalu.
Known for its anti-Congressism, the JP movement saw the emergence of many of present day non-Congress leaders. So when Nitish Kumar broke away from the NDA to form grand alliance with Lalu's party and the Congress, many mocked him asking how he could forget his ideology of anti-Congressism. Perhaps, one of the reasons for Nitish Kumar's comfort levels with the BJP has been because of Sushil Modi.
While many of the BJP leaders in Bihar present themselves as strong Hindutva leaders, Sushil Modi had acceptance among all religious groups. Interestingly, his wife Jessie George is a practicing Roman Catholic. They had a love marriage after they met on a train in 1985.
In the past, he handled the finance portfolio and was even chairman of the empowered group of finance ministers set up for the single tax regime.
Now, when he starts again his fresh innings as deputy CM in Nitish Kumar cabinet, the government is likely to run smoothly. The next state elections are now due in 2020, and the BJP would certainly like to emerge from the shadows of Nitish Kumar to emerge as a bigger force. Will Sushil Kumar Modi be the chief minister then?
