At a rally of his Jan Suraaj Celebration (JSP) in Patna on Friday (April 11), Prashant Kishor invoked a people adage from the Bhojpuri area – “the priest who performs wedding ceremony rituals additionally performs shraadh [last rites after death].” This punchline could have provided a momentary thrill to opponents of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar gathered on the Gandhi Maidan.>
The founding father of the fledgling JSP employed the metaphor of marriage and dying rituals for example his position in Nitish’s political “resurrection” in 2015 and the way, come the 2025 meeting polls, he intends to mark the tip of Nitish’s political journey.>
Kishor alleged that the state equipment had obstructed his supporters from reaching the rally from completely different components of Bihar – an accusation that, to some extent, could maintain water.>
However the bigger query is: after travelling extensively by way of Bihar’s farmlands and visiting agricultural settlements, the houses of aged individuals whose kids have migrated in quest of work, minority populations enduring intensified coercion and bands of stressed unemployed youth – has Kishor really aligned himself with the core points afflicting the state within the run-up to the elections?>
Is he positioning himself and his marketing campaign as a reputable answer to the widespread disenchantment among the many voters?>
Kishor brackets the final 25 years of governance in Bihar underneath the umbrella of the “Lalu-Nitish raj,” a interval which, in his view, has forged a pall of gloom and pushed the state into darkness.>
Armed with fashionable training, over a decade of expertise as a political strategist, appreciable sources and a well-structured cadre, Kishor presents “empirical” knowledge to assist his critique – and likewise shares a “imaginative and prescient” of how his get together would reverse migration tendencies and unleash employment alternatives if voted to energy.>
A sweeping assertion>
Nevertheless, a better examination of Kishor’s characterisation of the “25 years of Lalu-Nitish raj” means that it’s, arguably, a sweeping generalisation.>
Nitish, in alliance with the BJP, changed the 15-year-long Lalu Prasad Yadav-Rabri Devi regime and initiated important modifications in Bihar’s socio-economic, political and administrative buildings.>
Alongside together with his get together colleagues and BJP allies, Nitish ran a sustained marketing campaign to persuade the voters of his capabilities.>
As soon as in energy, he pursued a method of ‘social engineering’, providing focused advantages to marginalised communities who had perceived the sooner Yadav-dominated dispensation as monopolising the beneficial properties following the Mandal Fee’s report.>
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Coupled with governance reforms, Nitish’s tenure noticed marked enhancements in infrastructure – roads, electrical energy, healthcare, training – in addition to legislation and order.>
Significantly throughout the early years of the Janata Dal (United)-BJP coalition authorities, earlier than Narendra Modi rose to the nationwide management, Nitish labored to make sure justice and welfare for the Muslim group. His administration supported madrasas and minority-run academic establishments, ensured political illustration for Muslims, fenced graveyards and pushed again in opposition to Hindutva extremism that had sparked violence in BJP-ruled states elsewhere.>
The interval from 2005 to 2013 additionally witnessed the sharp decline of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which was decreased to simply 22 MLAs within the 2010 meeting elections.>
Its chief Lalu was convicted by decrease courts in a number of circumstances associated to the fodder rip-off beginning in 2013.>
The voters clearly turned the web page on the Lalu-Rabri period, entrusting Bihar’s future to Nitish’s management.>
Bihar’s nightmare>
Sarcastically, Bihar’s nightmare started with the rise of Modi and the concurrent surge of radical Hindutva parts throughout the BJP within the state. As Modi’s regime gained energy by way of successive electoral victories throughout India, Bihar’s situation steadily worsened.>
Aside from a quick nine-month interregnum underneath Jitan Ram Manjhi in 2014-15, Nitish has remained chief minister, whether or not allied with the BJP or the RJD.>
On this context, Kishor’s assertion that Bihar has suffered underneath “25 years of Lalu-Nitish rule” appears to miss the substantial injury inflicted by the BJP, notably underneath Modi.>
On the floor, Nitish could seem unchanged, however in actuality, he has been completely overwhelmed by the neo-BJP, dropping the credibility and imaginative and prescient that when propelled him to energy in 2005.>
Nitish’s decline – each in governance and political stature – is stark. His get together is down to simply 43 MLAs and his erratic conduct has raised severe issues.>
Bihar, at current, is mired in despair: improvement has come to a standstill, legislation and order has deteriorated and Hindutva zealots are aggressively intimidating Muslims, threatening their rights, lives and livelihoods.>
On this mild, Kishor’s declaration that he would carry out the shraadh of Nitish’s political profession seems redundant. The BJP has already carried out so.>
Nitish’s submissive stances – on Article 370, the Citizenship (Modification) Act and the Nationwide Register of Residents, and extra lately his assist for the controversial Waqf (Modification) Act – have eroded no matter remained of his secular credentials. His get together’s parliamentary leaders – Lalan Singh within the Lok Sabha and Sanjay Jha within the Rajya Sabha – now seem like in competitors with BJP hardliners in terms of antagonising the Muslim group.>
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Kishor’s limitations>
The place, then, is Kishor’s political area in Bihar?>
The BJP has firmly secured the caste-Hindu vote and is now trying to woo weak marginalised teams by protecting Nitish in good humor forward of the elections.>
The RJD, in the meantime, holds the assist of Muslims and Yadavs – its core base. Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu’s son, is making a concerted effort to reclaim the backing of marginalised communities that when stood with the RJD earlier than Nitish’s emergence.>
Chirag Paswan, son of the late Dalit chief Ram Vilas Paswan, instructions important affect amongst Paswans, a caste that may swing leads to over a dozen constituencies.>
Kishor bristles when RJD cadres append “Pandey” – a Brahmin surname – to his title. But, in Bihar’s political actuality, no chief has ever succeeded and not using a agency base inside their very own caste. He cites the Congress of the previous as a mannequin for his personal get together, seemingly overlooking the truth that leaders like Jagjivan Ram (Dalit), Sitaram Kesri (EBC), Satyendra Narayan Sinha (Rajput) and Jagannath Mishra (Brahmin) have been every icons inside their communities.>
So too are Lalu and even a diminished Nitish, with robust assist from the Yadav and Kurmi communities respectively.>
To succeed, Kishor will want broader acceptance inside his Brahmin caste. However doing so would require taking over the BJP, which continues to carry Brahmins as a core constituency.>
Is he ready for that problem? Thus far, he appears comparatively comfortable on the BJP whereas reserving his sharpest assaults for Tejashwi and Nitish.>
Given the complexity of Bihar’s social and political panorama, Kishor may affect the result in choose constituencies. Nevertheless, for any significant long-term impression or structural political shift, he nonetheless has an extended and arduous highway forward.>
Nalin Verma is a senior journalist and creator. He teaches mass communication and artistic writing at Jamia Hamdard College.>
