 "Sushil Kumar Modi has passed away at the age of 72. PTI File Photo")
Bihar has lost one of its tallest politicians. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi passed away on 13 May after a battle with cancer for eight months.
The 72-year-old was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, and took his last breath on Monday night. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Lalu Prasad Yadav, leaders across the political spectrum mourned his death.
In his condolence message, PM Modi remembered Sushil Modi’s “invaluable role” in the rise and success of the BJP in Bihar. “Strongly opposing the Emergency, he made a name for himself in student politics. He was known as a very hardworking and sociable MLA. He had a deep understanding of the issues related to politics. He also did a lot of commendable work as an administrator. His active role in the passage of GST will always be remembered,” he wrote in a post on X.
Let’s take a look at how Sushil Kumar Modi left a significant mark in Bihar politics.
Entry into politics
Sushil Kumar Modi took part in student politics while he was pursuing a BSc (Hons) in Botany at Patna University. In 1973, he became the general secretary of the Patna University Students’ Union.
Modi played a key role in the 1974 Bihar movement led by stalwart socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan. The other two famous politicians born out of the JP movement are Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
As per a Mint report, Modi was arrested five times during the JP Movement and Emergency, staying behind bars for 19 months.
A prominent leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in Bihar, Modi was reportedly reluctant to enter the political arena.
However, it was former Prime Minister and BJP leader the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee who convinced Modi to foray into politics.
According to Modi, during his wedding ceremony in 1986, Vajpayee told him that it was time to give up student politics and become a “full-time political activist”, reported the news agency PTI.
Sushil Modi took the political plunge and made his electoral debut in 1990 from the now-abolished Patna Central Assembly constituency on a BJP ticket. He defeated the sitting Congress legislator Akil Haider from the seat.
He never looked back after that.
Sushil Modi’s importance in Bihar politics
Modi took on the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led government in Bihar, accusing it of corruption.
Modi was one of the five petitioners in the fodder scam case in which the Patna High Court ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Eventually, in 1997, Yadav was forced to step down as the Bihar CM, making his wife Rabri Devi his successor to the top post.
The BJP also revealed 17 cases of irregularities against the Rabri Devi government, reported Indian Express.
Modi donned several hats in his political career. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, a post he held from 1996 to 2004.
In 2004, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bhagalpur. However, he was back in Bihar a year on after the RJD-Congress alliance was trounced in the state Assembly elections.
Modi is credited with the BJP’s ascent in Bihar in the 1990s and was considered the saffron party’s tallest BJP leader in the state after Kailashpati Mishra.
He served as the BJP’s national vice president between 2003 and 2005.
Sushil Modi and Nitish Kumar’s friendship
The bonhomie between Sushil Modi and Nitish Kumar is well-known.
In 2005, when the JD(U)-BJP alliance won the Assembly polls, Nitish became the CM and Modi was made his deputy.
Sushil Modi served as Bihar’s deputy CM for over 11 years in two stints – first from November 2005 to June 2013, and the other from July 2017 to December 2020.
During his first stint as Nitish’s deputy, Modi held the finance portfolio along with other departments. The Bihar CM credits Modi for the state’s economic turnaround.
In July 2011, Modi was appointed as the chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers for implementing the GST.
Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi ’s rapport is one for the books. As per a PTI report, the JD (U) leader has often expressed dismay at the sidelining of his former deputy by the BJP, who was not given a post after the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls and shifted to the Rajya Sabha.
Modi’s tenure at the Upper House had ended recently.
Some in the BJP blamed Modi’s “soft” stance towards Nitish Kumar for the party not being able to gain supremacy “despite diminution in the chief minister’s popularity”, the news agency reported.
When Nitish returned to the NDA fold this year, there were reports that he wanted Modi as his deputy again.
In April, the senior BJP leader announced his cancer diagnosis, saying he would not be able to participate in the Lok Sabha polls. “I have been battling cancer for the past six months. I felt that it was time to tell people about it. I will not be able to do anything during the Lok Sabha elections. I have told the Prime Minister everything,” he wrote in a post on X.
Expressing grief over Sushil Modi’s demise, Nitish said in a statement, “It’s a personal loss for me. We were together during the JP Movement. His death has created a vacuum in the political arena of the country as well as in Bihar," reported Indian Express.
With inputs from agencies