NEW DELHI: ‘Something is better than nothing’ and ‘better late than never’ - these two phrases may aptly describe senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain’s swearing-in as a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet in Bihar on Tuesday.
Born on December 12, 1968, Shahnawaz was first elected to the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 from Kishanganj in Bihar at a young age of 30. The same year, the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee inducted him as a Union minister of state and allotted him the food processing industries portfolio. He has now been allocated the industries ministry in the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar about 22 years later.
Just two years later - on September 1, 2001 - he went on to create a record. He was inducted as a Union cabinet minister and allotted the significant civil aviation ministry. In the process, as mentioned by the Lok Sabha portal, he became the “youngest cabinet minister in the history of independent India”.
Shahnawaz Hussain became an MP for the second time by winning a Lok Sabha bypoll in 2006 from Bhagalpur. He won the 2009 Lok Sabha election, again from Bhagalpur. And that was the last time he was an MP.
He lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election, albeit by a narrow margin from Bhagalpur. It is believed that he became a victim of internal party strife and sabotage.
Shahnawaz failed to get a ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha election as the Bhagalpur constituency went to the JD(U) candidate as per the seat-sharing arrangement with the BJP. Some say it was again by some internal design. Shahnawaz blamed Nitish Kumar for denial of ticket.
In fact, Shahnawaz’s tough times in politics and the BJP had started in 2013, when Narendra Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister then, was being elevated as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
Shahnawaz was considered close to BJP patriarch LK Advani and former Union minister Uma Bharti. In June 2013, Advani had openly opposed the elevation of Modi in the BJP’s Goa conclave as chairperson of the party’s election campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. For the first time since the BJP’s formation in 1980, Advani had skipped a significant party meeting.
Later on September 13, 2013, Advani not just boycotted the BJP’s parliamentary board meeting but also went to the extent of resigning from all party posts when Modi was chosen as the organisation’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Shahnawaz Hussan was not seen supporting Modi. He was identified more with the Advani camp which included leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha and Uma Bharti.
Shahnawaz is believed to have suffered in the party because of his proximity to the Advani camp. Even though he lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and did not get a ticket in the 2019 general elections, he was not chosen for a Rajya Sabha berth.
While Shahnawaz and Union minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are more or less contemporary in politics, the latter has become the BJP’s undeclared Muslim face in the government. While Naqvi was nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand in 2016 and made a minister in the Modi cabinet, Shahnawaz was not accommodated either in the upper house or in the government.
However, it goes to Shahnawaz’s credit that he kept working for the party with perseverance despite being ignored for his past association with the Advani camp. He kept on strongly defending the BJP as a national spokesperson from the party podium and even on an individual basis. He also campaigned for his party in the assembly and local elections in several states.
Most recently, he was assigned the task of overseeing the BJP’s campaign in the Kashmir Valley as the party in-charge for the District Development Council (DDC) elections which were held in November-December last year.
Shahnawaz camped in the Kashmir Valley for about a month. The BJP’s performance was impressive. Out of the total 280 seats - 140 each in the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu region - the BJP emerged as the single-largest party by winning 75 seats. While Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) won 67 seats, Mehbooba Mufti-headed People’s Democratic Party (PDP) bagged 27 and the Congress 26.
The BJP was also the biggest gainer while the Congress and the PDP were the biggest losers in the DDC elections. The BJP made an entry in the Kashmir Valley by winning three of the 140 seats. The BJP polled more votes not just than the Gupkar Alliance but also the PDP, NC and the Congress put together. While the BJP polled 4,87,364 votes, the Congress, NC and PDP together clocked 4,79,685, which is 7,679 votes less than those of the BJP.
Shahnawaz seems to have been awarded for his hard work and dogged perseverance, though his supporters would say he has not been fully rewarded.
At 32, he was the youngest Union cabinet minister and at 52, he is a cabinet minister in Bihar. He always contested Lok Sabha elections. But for the first time, he has become a member of the legislative council (MLC). These certainly are not promotions for a politician.
However, both the BJP and Shahnawaz are in a win-win situation. While Shahnawaz finds himself again in the political mainstream, the BJP has got a Muslim face ahead of the crucial assembly elections in West Bengal, Kerala and Assam where the politics is polarised on communal lines. He may also campaign extensively in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year.
Shahnawaz is also known as a Nitish Kumar baiter. His inclusion in the Bihar cabinet seems to have been a conscious decision to keep a tab on the chief minister.
In the long run, the BJP would also want to utilise his services along with those of Naqvi for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and blunt the influence of Lalu Prasad-led RJD and AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi among the Muslims in Bihar.