Gaya: One person being missed the most in the Bihar assembly election 2025 is former Dy CM of the state
Sushil Kumar Modi, said former Union minister Sanjay Paswan. No other BJP leader of the state had a pan Bihar appeal like Sushil Modi, said Paswan, an important dalit face of the party.
Sushil Modi, arguably the most charismatic leader of Bihar BJP, died of cancer on May 13, 2024.
Sushil Modi worked hard to build the party structure in the state and but for him, BJP would not have been what it is today. His absence is being felt all the more during the election campaign as being a leader of the masses, his election time roadshows galvanised the party workers and wooed the undecided voters, said the former Union minister.
Recalling Sushil Modi’s contribution to the Bihar BJP, Paswan said when Lalu Prasad caused a split in the Bihar BJP by luring away several prominent BJP leaders, including Inder Singh Namdhari the clout-wielding leader from the then south Bihar (now Jharkhand), it was Sushil Modi who worked as a shock absorber for the party and doubled his efforts to make BJP strong in the state.
The suave Sushil Modi was in perfect sync with CM Nitish Kumar and the duo ironed out the differences between the two parties despite divergent views on several issues, including the minority issue, without going public, recall Bihar watchers.
It may be recalled that in 2020 too CM Nitish Kumar wanted Sushil Modi as his deputy, but the BJP leadership did not grant the wish and Tarkeshwar Prasad and Renu Devi were made as Dy CMs replacing Sushil Modi. The coalition broke down in less than two years.
A senior BJP leader preferring anonymity said the tension caused between the BJP and JD(U) following the abrupt withdrawal of dinner invite by CM Nitish Kumar in 2010 was the real testing time for the political management skills of Sushil Modi.
But for Sushil Modi, the coalition would have ended in June 2010 itself, said the leader. The eleventh hour withdrawal of dinner invite was no ordinary matter as the list of invitees included PM Modi (the then Gujarat CM) and all senior BJP leaders, including LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, said the leader.
Recalling the contribution of Sushil Modi in the making of the Bihar unit of the BJP, Lalita Singh, a prominent BJP leader of the Sushil Modi-Kailashpati Mishra era, said the party will always remain indebted to Sushil Modi for the considerable expansion of the BJP vote base and making inroads among the OBC-EBC-dalit combine.
But for this expansion of the voter base, BJP would not have acquired a pre-eminent position in the caste-ridden state, said Lalita Singh.
Echoing the sentiments of Lalita Singh and other leaders of the party, Anil Swami a member of state executive committee of the party and former chief of the party’s Gaya unit, said Sushil Modi commanded respect of his political opponents as well.
Congress leader Md Moosa agreed with Anil Swami’s view and said unlike many leaders of the new generation, Sushil Modi regarded his political opponents as rivals and not enemies. He was always respectful to the opposition, said Moosa.
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