Managed paradoxes, revived Bihar, aced longevity. Nitish Kumar

Nitish’s yatra in politics will remain etched as a copious chapter in Bihar’s political history. In a Congress-towered state, opposition came mainly from the socialists – JP, Lohia, Madhu Limaye, George Fernandes and Karpoori Thakur. Among the recruits from Patna University student politics in 1974-75 were Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, both inspired by Lohia’s socialism.

Lalu and Nitish made their electoral debuts after the emergency, in 1977. While Lalu became the new Young Turk to enter parliament, Nitish bit dust in the assembly polls from Harnaut in 1977 and 1980. He became third-time lucky in 1985. After a stint in the assembly, he too reached the Lok Sabha in 1989 from Barh.


VP Singh implemented the Mandal Commission’s recommendations and catapulted Lalu and Nitish as ‘Brothers Mandal’ in Bihar’s political firmament. However, they soon fell apart as Lalu stamped his authority as undisputed autocrat, thriving as he was with 15% Yadav votes, the largest chunk of OBCs.

Nitish’s Kurmis aligned with Koeris, the Luv-Kush combo, lagged behind with around 7% votes. In 1994, Nitish joined George Fernandes, Sharad Yadav and Digvijay Singh to form the Samata party. Lalu's reign was on a high and the Samata Party could win only seven of the 310 seats it contested in 1995.

Nitish then charted another course by joining the NDA. Stints in the Vajpayee government helped him to hone his skills in managing political extremes, a strategy that later helped him helm Bihar for 20 years. However, his first stint as Bihar CM in 2000 lasted just one week.

Nitish, meanwhile, began to fall apart with Fernandes, Sharad Yadav and Digvijay, which made critics call him selfish in his political journey.

The partnership with BJP paid dividends in toppling Lalu-Rabri in 2005. The road to 2005 was laid by launching a statewide Nyaya Yatra.

Reaching out to a pan-Bihar constituency across caste, creed and gender in the Vajpayee model, Nitish did not take kindly to the Gujarat riots of 2002. Narendra Modi was then the chief minister of Gujarat. Bihar was already scarred with decades of caste wars, massacres and kidnappings. Nitish understood that Bihar needed peace. And for that, he needed support across divides. He thanked Vajpayee for his blessings on becoming CM in 2005.

Modi soon began touring outside Gujarat. Arun Jaitley, through his aide Sanjay Jha, drew Nitish to a NDA rally in Ludhiana. Nitish was stumped when, out of thin air, Narendra Modi grabbed his hand and held their joint hands aloft from the dais. Cameras clicked. The morrow’s Page 1 visual was captured. Nitish was aghast. His secular image was at stake.

He made it clear to the BJP leadership that the Gujarat CM was not welcome to campaign in Bihar. Meanwhile, he applied his mind to rebuild Bihar. Yatras across the state became his textbook to learn of problems by direct contact with people. Law and order improved overnight and infrastructure building began.

He launched the groundbreaking Jeevika scheme to build self-help women’s groups with World Bank support. With this, he struck a blow to caste-based vote banks by creating a caste/creed-neutral gender vote that ensured his uninterrupted electoral wins with whichever alliance he went to the polls. Nitish further dented Lalu’s hold on the backward-Dalit vote by giving reservations within those groups to EBCs and Mahadalits. An engineer by training, he resorted to social engineering to ensure his own political longevity.

After the UPA retained power in the 2009 polls, BJP was preparing to launch a fresh face as PM. The BJP scheduled its national executive meet in Patna and Bihar under Nitish had just come out of the Kosi deluge. The CM invited the BJP leaders for an at-home dinner. Full page advertisements in newspapers suddenly appeared thanking Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s cheque for Bihar’s flood victims. Nitish was incensed. He withdrew the dinner invitation and the cheque was returned.

Modi’s projection as PM face in 2013 made Nitish further uneasy. He rejoined forces with Lalu’s RJD to win in 2015. But he returned to the NDA fold in 2017 and the 2020 assembly polls saw him face his fiercest election. Anti-incumbency cries were high and Nitish called it his last election. He swam ashore in BJP’s company, their campaign shored up by Modi’s charisma. In August 2022, Nitish again ditched the BJP and formed yet another Mahagathbandhan government. He increasingly became perceived as obsessed with his own survival.

Nitish’s unspoken PM ambitions gained ground with him joining the INDIA bloc. He was soon miffed and somersaulted back to the NDA. From one who was angry when Narendra Modi clutched his hand to raise in 2009, Nitish after the recent assembly polls in November was seen touching the PM’s feet. The defiance was dead and the capitulation was complete.