Sushil Kumar Modi: A gentleman politician who was a misfit in today’s ruthlessly transactional world

Political leaders come and go, but politics goes on. I often wonder if people would still join politics if they knew how quickly they would be forgotten, or how short their obituaries would be, and what little impact their passing away would make, especially if that were to happen in the dust and din of an ongoing national election. Of course, I know that people make decisions not in the light of how their political careers would end, but in the glow of the convictions, ambitions, and (occasionally) ideals that inspire them when the journey begins.

These melancholic thoughts came to me when I read that Sushil Kumar Modi, a towering figure in the politics of Bihar for decades, died due to cancer on May 13, 2024. I knew that the day of his demise was not far, ever since he announced in April that for the last six months, he had been battling cancer, and would not be able to campaign in the current elections. Yet still, his death came as a shock, and a rude reminder of the essential transience of our puny lives, however triumphant and invincible they may appear when at their peak.

I first met Sushil Modi when I joined Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in January 2013. While Nitish was, undoubtedly, the supremo uno, his undisputed and highly respected number two was the deputy chief minister and finance minister, Modi. I found him exceptionally polite, humble, accessible and urbane. Always soft-spoken, his amiable personality hid a very good administrator, who was an equal partner with Nitish in the recovery of Bihar after the bruising misrule of 15 years of Lalu’s rule. However, he always knew his place as the number two in the cabinet and never sought to overshadow or compete with Nitish. Together, they made a formidable team, based on genuine respect and camaraderie, something not easily seen in the competitive, cut-throat world of politics.

In fact, in those days, common people often referred to them as ‘Ram-Lakshman ki jodi’.

Sushil Modi’s political career began with Jayaprakash Narayan’s (JP) people’s movement for Sampoorna Kranti—Total Revolution—in 1974 against the Indira Gandhi regime at the Centre. He was a promising student of MSc in Botany at the Patna Science College, but left his studies to join the movement. For most leaders in Bihar at that time, student politics was the doorway to state-level and national politics.

Lalu Prasad was the president of the Patna University Students Union, and Sushil Modi was the general secretary. Both were members of the Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti that, at the youth level, was supporting the protest movement. One was a socialist, the other a thoroughbred product of the RSS, but JP was the bridging factor, and irrespective of differing political ideologies, they jointly responded to his clarion call.

People judge leaders by what they achieved when successful, but rarely remember the sacrifices that have led up to it. Sushil Modi was arrested four times during the 1974 agitation and was jailed for 19 months during the Emergency. His political career began later when in 1990 and 1995, he won elections to the Bihar Assembly. From 1996 to 2004, he was the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, after which he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bhagalpur. He was also at the forefront of the filing of a public interest litigation (PIL) against Lalu in the fodder scam, which ultimately put the latter in jail.

Things took a dramatic turn when Nitish Kumar’s Samta Party and the BJP came together to defeat Lalu Yadav in 2005. From 2005 to 2013, with Nitish as the CM, Modi was his deputy, and one of the most prominent figures in Bihar politics. Such was his reputation for quiet competence that in 2011, he was appointed the Chairperson of the Empowered Committee of state finance ministers relating to the GST.

But, however deep his friendship with Nitish, he was a loyal soldier of the BJP-RSS. When Nitish opposed Narendra Modi and broke with the BJP in 2013, Sushil became his bitter opponent. For the people of Bihar, it was a sad spectacle to see this jodi uttering calumnies against each other. Nitish won the 2015 state election in partnership with Lalu’s RJD, and Sushil continued to be a relentless critic of the ‘mahagathbandhan’. When, in 2017, suddenly, and in a complete ideological volte-face, Nitish joined the BJP, Sushil Modi was back as his trusted deputy. But Nitish dumped the BJP in 2020, only to rejoin it in 2023 again. But this time, Sushil Modi was not given the choice to be the deputy chief minister. Ironically, his well-known friendship with Nitish stood in the way. He was not, his friends alleged, trusted sufficiently by the new dispensation, and was sent to the Rajya Sabha instead.

Sushil Modi lived an effortlessly simple life. I remember once on a flight from Patna to Delhi, where I was flying business class, he met me cordially, and then moved to economy class, when he too was entitled to fly business. When I asked him why, his honest answer was that he prefers economy. He was simply in the class of that generation of RSS leaders who shunned ostentation. Character-wise, he fitted far more into the milieu of the Vajpayee-Advani era and was a misfit in the ruthless transactional world of politics that we see today.

My sincerest condolences go out to his wife, Jessie George, a Keralite Christian whom he had known since his Patna Science College and his family.

The author is a former diplomat, an author and a politician. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.