Nitish Kumar being sworn in for the tenth time as the chief minister of Bihar was a logical culmination of a resurgent performance by JD(U) that inspired the NDA to a popular victory with over 50 percent of the popular vote giving them 83 per cent of the seats.
More than a mere political survivor, Nitish is a phenomenal reader of social arithmetic and engineering with wide appeal that goes beyond caste as a record turnout of female supporters and youth demonstrated. His schemes for women empowerment with cash benefits adding to the state’s adherence to prohibition endearing him to them in the first place were the game changer in this poll.
In sticking to one side of the political spectrum since January 2024 when he took oath or the ninth time and making the 2025 victory possible with his appeal to all sections of the social coalition he has stitched together and which helped drown anti-incumbency that could build easily in a state with so much migration in search of jobs, Nitish had displayed shrewd judgment.
It is remarkable that irrespective of whether he is making or breaking alliances and despite his party always being the junior partner in terms of seats, Nitish has been CM for 20 years now. With Narendra Modi backing him all the way this time, the double-engine drive may have attained stability for a prospective full term provided, of course, that Nitish’s health sees him last the course as an active driver of the administration.
One of the major talking points of the poll was the direct benefit transfer to at least one crore women on the eve of the elections. At a time when no party is chary of offering targeted benefits and jobs for youth, the legality of DBT cannot be questioned. But what it signifies is people have taken a great liking to welfare schemes and freebies and a majority of those who were eligible under the revised poll rolls demonstrated this.
Sustaining the welfare schemes that have become de rigueur in a country which spends the most in the world now on positive social action could be the least of the new government’s worries. Bihar’s debt as a state will also climb along with many other major states which, however, boast of better performances when measured against socioeconomic parameters but still depend on populist channels to attract voters.
As a state that has not industrialised at a hectic pace which others are attaining by being ultra-competitive to attract private sector investment, Bihar has a long way to go. Without new industry, it will be a grave challenge to create the one crore jobs in 10 years the NDA has promised since all of it cannot come from an already bloated government machinery. And jobs for youth wishing to stay in their home state from which thousands migrate each year are a challenge that must be tackled on a war footing.
While infrastructure building will grow under double engine traction, Bihar may have to do much more to satisfy the people of a state looking to leave dank days behind. This would entail investing more in the education and public health sectors while also trying to modernise the agriculture sector in tune with states that produce so much more. The state must move on under the patriarchal rule of its stalwart CM. An overwhelming vote of support for him and the NDA was just the hopeful start of a new era.
