Central University of Bihar row: Bihar emerges ultimate winner

Note: If Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir could get two central Universities why not another in Kalahandi for Odisha

Times of India, July 19, 2012

GAYA: Strange but true, Bihar is the ultimate winner in the Nitish-Sibal match that ended in a 1-1 draw, as the wish list of both chief minister Nitish Kumar and Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal got fulfilled and the state of Bihar, in the process, got two central universities instead of one. Whereas CM Kumar wanted the proposed central university to be located in Motihari, Sibal, backed by a favourable report for the Site Selection Committee, pitched for Gaya.

The state's victory becomes all the more pronounced in view of the fact that Bihar had to wait for 65 long years in the post independence era to get its first central university, whereas neighbouring UP had three central universities from the very beginning.

The history of injustice to the state in respect of education, besides other sectors, is fairly old as the claim of both Patna and Magadh Universities for central university status was rejected outright even though the claims were based on hard facts and sound logic.

Whereas, Patna University, for long enjoyed an enviable reputation as a centre of academic excellence, the vast infrastructural advantages and growth potential of Magadh University have never been properly appreciated.

Notwithstanding the stand of the perennial critics trying to undermine the contribution of Nitish Kumar in the now certain establishment of the two central universities, the fact remains that but for the success of the CM in not blinking first in the rather long battle of wits with an argumentative and somewhat stubborn HRD minister Sibal, the state would never have got two central universities.

Chief minister's political rivals hell bent on depriving the CM of his due share of credit for the establishment of one more central university in the state, may argue that but for the JD(U) support to the UPA candidate, Pranab Mukherjee, in the presidential election, Motihari would never have figured on the central university map of the country.

Even if, for the sake of argument, it is conceded that the additional central university was part of a political bargain between the UPA leadership and CM Nitish Kumar, the 'bargain' is worth it as the CM is duty bound to promote the interest of the state and then, politics, they say is the art of the possible.

Nitish has only converted that 'possibility 'into a reality. And then, the JD(U) supported the better of the two presidential contestants and for that reason, too, Kumar's pragmatism cannot be faulted, says activist Ali Hussain who teachers politics to under-graduate students.