Many are predicting huge changes in Bihar political landscape. Media reports are suggesting that the JDU again wants an out from the NDA alliance. There are also reports which suggest that Nitish Kumar met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss formation of new alliance and government. There are also rumours of Nitish Kumar being in talks with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD and other left parties. Amidst all this, the BJP leaders have maintained a stoic silence. When some rivers are flooded some parts of Bihar while other remains dry, literally and figuratively, question is what will an average citizen gain out of it?
Goswami Tulsidas ji wrote,
करि कुरूप बिधि परबस कीन्हा। बवा सो लुनिअ लहिअ जो दीन्हा॥
कोउ नृप होउ हमहि का हानी। चेरि छाड़ि अब होब कि रानी॥
It can be roughly translated into the creator has created me ugly, why should anyone else be blamed. I reap what I sow, take what comes my way. Whoever is the king, what is my fault, will I become the queen instead of a mere servant?
During the coronation of Lord Ram as king, when Kaikeyi did not fall into trap of Manthra, she described her situation and said that whether the king is Ram or Bharat, it does not matter to her, she would always remain a servant. But it seems Bihar is so cursed that whoever becomes the king, the public will continue to suffer the most.
Usually when there are elections, people elect the party or the leader whom they understand. But for Bihar, the situation is different. Here, the people don’t vote for betterment. They elect those to power who they think are the lesser evil. It is like the popular advertising tagline, ‘how is my shirt more white than yours’, but in the end they all know all shirts are stained.
In such situation of choosing lesser of the two evils, the people of Bihar chose the NDA alliance. It was not that the people were happy with the Nitish Kumar led NDA government in the state. In fact, there has been huge dissatisfaction amongst people in Bihar regarding the Nitish led government, especially JDU leaders. Despite that people chose the NDA because on the other side were those who are synonymous with ‘jungleraj’. To escape this ‘jungleraj’ only did Biharis gave a chance to Nitish Kumar in 2005 and then again in 2010.
After these two elections, it seemed like Bihar will get back on track. Those universities which used to take 5-6 years to confer degrees started giving them in three years’ time. Schools and hospitals were being set up, electricity was reaching villages. Roads were constructed. Those ‘bahubalis’ from whom even the police was afraid of, were now behind bars. Their cases were being heard in fasttrack courts. The kidnapping industry had kind of ceased to exist. In short, Bihar had reached a stage where it can start dreaming of development. Do keep in mind what I stated above were steps to cover the pits dug in Bihar during the jungelraj.
In such a scenario, in 2013, for his own political ambitions, Nitish Kumar cut ties with NDA alliance. This was a major setback to the dreams Bihar had just started dreaming. Whatever that was gained between 2005 to 2013 was started to go away. In 2015, Nitish joined hands with Lalu Yadav for election, the same Lalu who had become synonymous with jungleraj in Bihar. They won the elections and the downfall of Bihar’s development gained pace.
Suddenly the ‘bahubalis’ and goondas were back flexing power. Development had taken a pause. Education, health, law and order again started going backward. In 2017, Nitish returned to NDA fold and formed government again with the BJP. While he formed government again with the BJP, the situation didn’t quite change. In past five years, Bihar not been able to reach that state where it had reached in 2013 after starting the journey in 2005. Hence, in 2020 Vidhan Sabha elections, everyone in Bihar was upset with Nitish Kumar. So much that in desperation he said that this would be his last ever election.
But in current situation, it was still a little relief that Nitish Kumar was away from the clouds of jungleraj. Data shows there is a steady increase in crime rate. In recent times when violence broke out against the central government’s Agnipath scheme, many houses of BJP leaders were also targeted. Despite that, the situation was not that bad that one goonda from Siwan would pour acid over sons of Chanda Babu and kill them.
If Nitish again changes sides, Shahbuddin will rise again. Many Chanda Babus will lose their sons when they are drenched in acid. Anyway since many years, Nitish Kumar has been a burden on Bihar the way Lalu and Rabri were for over a decade prior to him.
