Patna: What can a small turban on one’s head achieve? In a striking coincidence, the man who wore a turban with the pledge to remove Nitish Kumar from power in Bihar has accomplished his mission. Samrat Choudhary, once known for his trademark “pagadi” (turban), has ultimately replaced Nitish, who governed the state for more than two decades and once appeared firmly entrenched in office.The story behind the turban is equally compelling. Barely a month after Nitish broke away from the NDA for the second time and formed a new govt with the support of the Grand Alliance, Samrat’s mother Parvati Devi, a former legislator, passed away in Sept 2022 after a prolonged illness.
While the turban was initially worn as a mark of grief, Samrat later projected it as a symbol of protest against Nitish’s alleged betrayal and took a vow to continue wearing it until he removed him from the CM’s chair. From then on, the turban became an integral part of his public image.The significance of this gesture came to the fore in July 2023, when Nitish, then leading the Grand Alliance govt, questioned him in the legislative council. “Why do you wear the turban on your head?” Nitish asked Samrat.“I told him (Nitish) I have taken a vow to remove him from the throne and then ‘pagadi’ will get removed the day you are dethroned. I said I also seek your blessing for fulfilling my wish,” Samrat later told the media, recalling the exchange. “Aapko jis din mukhyamantri pad se hataunga, usi din yah pagadi khulega,” he told Nitish.In a curious twist in Bihar’s politics, Nitish returned to the NDA about six months later, yet Samrat continued wearing the turban, fuelling speculation. Eventually, amid repeated media queries, Samrat visited the Ram temple in Ayodhya, where he offered the turban after removing it and taking a holy dip in the Saryu, marking what he described as the fulfilment of his vow regarding the Bihar CM, who had by then already returned to the NDA fold.Although he stopped wearing the turban thereafter, it remained a subject of discussion given how prominently he had carried it for months. Whether seen as coincidence or a quirk of fate, the leader who had vowed to unseat Nitish has seen his wish fulfilled. Interestingly, it was Nitish himself who backed Samrat’s leadership during his Samriddhi yatra in Bihar and urged people to support him.
