NEW DELHI: In the run up to Bihar assembly poll announcement, Nitish Kumar was seen as NDA’s weak link – his fitness under scrutiny, focus on CM’s gaffes in and outside legislatures, the image of ‘sushashan babu’ fraying as sensational murders and collapse of bridges made national headlines allowing RJD-led Mahagathbandhan to home in on him. Halfway into the campaign, his challenger Tejashwi Yadav of RJD was goading voters by claiming that BJP will not repeat Nitish as CM if NDA retains power. But, as if on cue, BJP member and deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary said he will remain the CM, its poll in-charge and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan insisted there is no vacancy for CM’s post and other allies like Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi endorsed his leadership. As polling day nears, the JD(U) president remains not only NDA’s most dependable face in state, but also someone whom large sections continue to look up to. His party’s strength has declined in the assembly over successive elections but he continues to be seen as the alliance’s most assured bridge to victory. His arch rival Lalu Prasad’s derisive sobriquet of ‘Paltu Ram’, a colloquial turn on his frequent switches between the two rival alliances in state, appeared to have stuck for a while. But what has endured for his supporters is his deliverance of Bihar from the 15-year govt of Lalu and his wife Rabri Devi, a period dubbed as ‘jungle raj’ by NDA for its alleged lawlessness and retreat of state from various spheres of public life. Nitish is credited for restoration of basics of governance in his 20-long years in office, save for nine months of Jitan Ram Manjhi between 2014 and 2015. A quality road network, reliable power supply with electricity reaching almost every village by 2016, state’s turn to the rule of law, and partial gains in school education and healthcare, at least at primary level, are considered undeniable successes of his era. While a sense of fatigue, poor employment opportunities with little let-up in migration from the state, and public frustration of those who want the state to have more than basic necessities pose a big challenge to him, what helps him is that the opposition’s chief ministerial face Tejashwi continues to be weighed down with the legacy of his father. BJP’s support is a big help as it ensures support of vocal upper castes and non-Yadav OBCs and EBCs among whom the saffron party has steadily made inroads. PM Narendra Modi has been warning voters in his rallies and virtual interactions against the return of ‘jungle raj’ of RJD, while offering wholehearted endorsement of Nitish. Lalu had famously said he might not have given people ‘swarg’ (heaven) but did render them ‘swar’ (voice), a suggestion that RJD govt empowered socially-deprived classes even though it scored poorly on governance. Nitish is seen to have succeeded in broadening the empowerment tent by pivoting govt’s welfare focus to EBCs and most-deprived of Scheduled Castes, and provided an efficient administration as well. Focus on governance, building of infrastructure and a push for welfare schemes and empowerment initiatives like quotas for women and EBCs seem to be cushioning against attempts to turn his long tenure into a vulnerability. To his admirers, Nitish is also a rare politician who, despite his two decades in office, has managed to avoid any taint of corruption or charge of subversion due process for rewarding his band of loyalists with govt jobs or contracts, an attribute brought into sharp relief when compared to a host of netas heading regional parties, not least his arch rival Lalu. Despite lacking the advantage of an assured vote bank like Lalu, whose caste Yadavs account for over 14.2% of population, Nitish has assiduously woven a support block comprising of sections of non-Yadav OBCs, EBCs and Scheduled Castes. In his multiple stints in office since 2005, the 74-year-old neta has cultivated women voters with a host of sops, from 35% quota in govt jobs to 50% quota in local bodies. The recent transfer of Rs 10,000 to over 1.20 crore of them being the latest outreach. His choice of keeping family members out of politics also casts him in a positive light for his supporters when no major regional party leadership can escape the charge of nepotism.
