 "Nitish Kumar, JDU, Bihar election")
“Thank you for your service”. This was the message the electorate of Bihar sent to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) galloped toward a victory without parallel following a virtually seamless alliance.
The Opposition was decimated. For the first time in several decades, only one member of Lalu Prasad’s family will be seen in the Bihar Assembly (at one time, there were eight). The Opposition alliance fell victim to “friendly fights”, internecine quarrels, and confused political messaging.
But even as they savoured the moment, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal United (JDU), the two biggest parties in the alliance, had begun looking to maximise their gains.
“The nature of the victory is such,” confided a BJP sympathiser from Mithilanchal to Business Standard on the phone “that even if he wants, Nitish Kumar will not be able to acquire new friends”. Nitish Kumar’s reputation as a consummate political acrobat is well known. But in this result, he said, lay an opportunity: Not only would the BJP be able to pursue its political aims without obstruction, but also eventually replace the chief minister if necessary. For now, he added, Kumar was the unquestioned choice for the top job; the only openings were for his two deputies and other positions in the council of ministers. ALSO READ: Bihar election results 2025: Candidates with biggest winning margins
Party Working President Sanjay Jha said:
“Nitish Kumar has no caste. In Bihar caste arithmetic always used to rule. He has changed the caste narrative. Voters, especially women and the youth, have shown confidence in him.”
Privately JDU leaders had said before the polls that they were looking over their shoulder: Because they were never sure what the BJP’s ask would be. Although the JDU has supported recent legislation like the Waqf Act, thought to damage its Muslim support base, in the past, Nitish Kumar had been firm on not allowing the BJP to expand its base in Bihar. Now, the party is no longer sure how much Nitish Kumar will assert himself.
However, political management aside, the immediate governance challenges are formidable. “The priority must be the effective enforcement of tax laws to curb evasion and base erosion,” said Avani Ranjan Singh, former professor of economics at LN University, Bihar. “Bihar’s own tax to gross state domestic product ratio, between 5 and 6 per cent, lags behind peer states like Uttar Pradesh”. He said the state must consider a partial rollback of prohibition and the privatisation of loss-making state undertakings. He suggested adopting public-private partnership to develop Bihar’s tourism circuit and a fresh look at agriculture -- from being a raw produce supplier to becoming a hub for food processing.
But, Singh says, the bottom line is the ease of doing business. “Political stability is an asset. It must now be matched with predictable policies, streamlined clearances and a corruption-free environment”.
A K Jha, also an academic, said: “There has been deterioration in law and order. Human resources in Bihar need to be developed and nurtured. Educational reform is imperative.”
The Opposition acknowledged that it had been mauled even though the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) managed a respectable vote share. But even the limited data immediately available suggests it had been its own worst enemy in the election. The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), for instance, appears to have nibbled anything between 2,500 and 4,000 votes from the Opposition kitty in all the 25 constituencies it contested after negotiations with the Opposition collapsed. In several constituencies the margin of Opposition defeat is almost exactly the number of votes the AIMIM got: Whether in the Keoti or Baisi constituencies.
The Jan Suraaj Party, with whom everyone agreed but few voted for, has announced a review. How the Opposition will reinvent itself -- as floor crossers are not needed in Bihar by the BJP-JDU coalition, unlike in Maharashtra after the Assembly polls -- remains to be seen.
