Nitish Kumar still retains his aura as a deliverer

 KNOWLEDGE KUMAR, A name he gives with a sheepish smile, puts two bread pakoras he has just fried on a small silver foil plate, selling them from a covered thela (cart) on the roadside in Bi­harsharif, in Bihar’s Nalanda district. He pours mustard sauce over them, giving the traditional street food a rustic Bihari twist, one of those tastes that is likely to linger in the mind. He is all praise for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “He has given this road, electricity, water, rations,” he says.

How come the name Knowledge? He laughs, focusing on pre­paring the bread and potatoes for another round to be put in the wok, amid the incessant drizzle and cool breeze that makes it an ideal weather for his snacks. A diehard supporter of the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U) leader, the Dalit youth says he studied till Class 8 and then started earning a living by selling pakoras.

About a kilometre down the road, Poonam Kumari, a young woman who runs a cement business, says Nitish improved the law and order situation in the state. “Earlier, women were scared to step out,” she says, referring to the tenure of Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) that was dubbed ‘jungle raj’ because of lawlessness.

Just minutes before, Jan Suraaj Party chief Prashant Kishor, a political consultant-turned-politician who is projecting his party as an alternative to the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan, had briefly addressed a crowd right there, as his roadshow cut through Nalanda. Kishor asked the youth if they are forced to leave Bihar in search of jobs. There is a chorus of “yes” in response. “It’s a new party. It will take some time to have an im­pact. This is Nitish’s stronghold,” says Poonam, as she drives off on her two-wheeler.

If Nitish is a messiah for change in Bi­har, he is a demigod in Nalanda, his home turf. His silence in Bihar’s political arena leaves several unanswered questions. Yet, he looms large. When it comes to Nitish, it’s rare to find someone, whichever side of the political aisle the allegiance may lie on, who does not acknowledge his “good work” in the state. For his supporters, the Opposition’s questioning of his physical and mental fitness to govern stirs an element of sympathy. For his opponents, it ampli­fies their battle cry for change.

Like former Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik in neighbouring Odisha, Kumar’s women-centric policies and schemes have earned him support among a constituency that blurs caste lines. The voter turnout of women surpassed that of men in both states. Patnaik had launched schemes to empower 70 lakh women members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Odisha through Mission Shakti. The Nitish government in September transferred ₹10,000 into bank ac­counts of 75 lakh women in Bihar, as seed money to members of SHGs, a women’s collective that got a push with a World Bank-supported project called JEEViKa, to further consolidate women voters, factoring in their increased participation in elections. After the initial grant, the women are eligible for an additional support of ₹2 lakh, depending on the success of their businesses. Neither Naveen Patnaik, nor Nitish Kumar—both septuagenarians, both with stints of over two decades as chief ministers, both having start­ed with socialist leanings— have a second rung leadership. But, unlike Patnaik, who was fighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nitish has the saffron party by his side.

As a group of youngsters wearing yellow t-shirts riding motorbikes gather at Rajgir, an ancient town in Nalanda, waiting for their leader Prashant Kishor to begin his roadshow as part of his “Bihar Badlav Yatra”, and drums start beating, in a small shop, Hiralal and his son Navin Singh pore over the cloth in their sewing machines, oblivious to the din. “These are just vote katwa (vote cutting parties). Nitish has done a lot. You see the road here. It’s shining like a diamond. We have education and water,” says Navin. The tailors belong to the Mali community, a part of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), a combination of 112 castes outside the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Castes (OBCs), comprising 36.01 per cent (as per the 2022 caste census) of the state’s popu­lation, a community Nitish has cultivated with targeted policies and schemes.

Kishor’s discourse, however, does seem to have resonance among the educated youth, who complain of lack of job opportunities. “We want change. Kishor is talking of jobs, end­ing migration, education, and not about caste,” says Sonu Kumar Paswan, a job­less youth who studied till Class 10. Ajit Kumar, a college student who be­longs to the Yadav community, agrees with him. Asked about RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the 35-year-old chief min­isterial candidate of the Mahagathband­han, he shakes his head in disapproval, recalling his father Lalu Prasad’s rule. Monu Kumar, a Bhumihar, appreciates that Kishor is focusing on caste-neutral issues. “You are asking about our caste, but the Jan Suraaj is not talking of caste,” he says.

Anyone familiar with Bihar’s political template is dismissive of a narrative that excludes caste, finding it difficult to believe that the voters could defy the caste equations that have traditionally held sway over elections in the state. Yet, a sliver of change is visible among the educated youth, spurred by the emergence of Jan Suraaj in the battlefield. Both NDA and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc have made ambitious promises of ensuring employ­ment to the youth in the state to stem migration, which affects every section of the state’s populace. With the lack of opportunities in the state leading to an exodus, resentment over it is gaining momen­tum, particularly among the youth. Both the alliances, however, are largely banking on time-tested touchstones—NDA on Nitish’s governance record, EBCs and the women’s vote and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc on a quest for change, the Muslim-Yadav vote and weaning away a section of the EBCs from Nitish.

Driving down the road from Nalanda to Patna—the hazy Gan­ga in the twilight as it drizzles, young women working at the toll, the road cutting down travel time—one wonders if the youths’ aspiration to free themselves of caste shackles would translate into votes. If Kishor’s party does draw votes, it remains to be seen which side will he cut more votes from. Shankar, the driver, who is a graduate, says Kishor is raising the right issues, but after he decided against contesting the election, his support dwindled. “Nitish has built these roads and bridges across the Ganga. It used to take four hours to reach Rajgir from Patna, but this road has cut it to half,” says Shankar, who belongs to the Mali community, a component of EBC.

At a café in Patna, where youngsters meet over coffee, there is no talk of politics. Once the topic is touched, they open up, expressing spirited views. Most of them have come home for the Chhath festival, from various cities where they work. Sim­ran, a nutritionist in a Bengaluru hospital, and her friend Aditi, an engineer in Pune, laud the change under Nitish and feel the state needs someone like him. “Under him, there has been a lot of development— better roads and basic infrastructure. The café culture is new to Bihar. Earlier, we could not step out after 5PM. Nobody wants to go back to such times,” recalls Simran, echoing the fear of several women. They, like many Bihari youths, would like to find well-paying jobs back in their hometown. Agreeing with issues raised by Kishor, they say it will take time for people to see him as an alternative.

Satyan, an IT professional working for a Gurugram company, would like an alternative to both NDA and the Mahagathbandhan. “Their politics has been more aligned with caste. We have heard from our parents that things have changed after Nitish came to power, but now we need someone who can focus on industrialisa­tion and is in line with the thinking of a younger generation. I agree with Kishor’s ideas, but he does not have presence in the political scene,” he says, as he orders coffee.

Crossing the Ganga, via one of the bridges built after Nitish came to power, into the villages, the discourse revolves around Nitish and Tejashwi. In Sakuisaraiya village of Muzaffar­pur’s Kurhani Vidhan Sabha, a group of Yadav men, overseeing women labourers threshing to remove the chaff from the grain, expresses their unflinching support for RJD. Some of the women labourers, belonging to the Noniya community, categorised as EBC, have received the ₹10,000 seed money from the government.

Off the highway, the road winds into villages of the fisher­men’s community of Mallahs, an EBC faction, whom the Maha­gathbandhan is hoping to pluck away from Nitish, with their leader Mukesh Sahani, who calls himself “son of Mallah”, not only joining the alliance, but also being declared its deputy chief minis­terial candidate. His party Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) is contest­ing 12 seats, including Kurhani. “Most people here are backing VIP, barring around 20-30 per cent which may be with NDA. We also cannot say which way the women, some of whom have got  ₹10,000 from the government, are voting,” says Shankar Sahni, an elderly farmer of Charkoria village. The Mallahs, constituting 2.6 per cent of the state’s population as per the 2022 caste census, and related castes like Nishad and Kevat, have largely backed Nitish. A group of fishermen playing 21, a card game, near a pond in Teliya village, say Nitish has done a lot of development work, but it’s time for him to retire and make way for someone else.

THAT SAME DAY, around 100km away, in Begusarai, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had waded into a pond, spending time fishing with Sahani, who had started his political journey backing BJP. Sources in NDA claim the damage from Mukesh Sahani moving to the Opposition camp would be negligible affecting only 4-5 per cent of the EBC vote. While RJD’s rule was characterised by Yadav dominance, Nitish introduced targeted programmes for EBCs, granting them 18 per cent reserva­tion in jobs, increasing it further to 20 per cent in local governance.

“Lalu Yadav is a leader of the backwards. Nitish is being con­trolled by BJP,” says Manikant Kushwaha. The non-Yadav OBCs, comprising 13 per cent, which include Kushwaha, Koeri and Kurmi, to which Nitish himself belongs, have backed JD(U), to counter Yadav domination. For Tejashwi, Lalu is a boon and bane. A mass leader with a dedicated Yadav and Muslim support, Lalu was tainted with corruption allegations while his tenure was termed ‘jungle raj’. Tejashwi, who has promised a government job to every household in the state, has tried to come out of his father’s shadow, but is still eclipsed by it. Nitish, after he became the chief minister for the first time in 2005 replacing Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi, the only woman chief minister in Bihar, had granted 50 per cent reserva­tion to women in Panchayati Raj institutions. Later, he extended the policy to urban local bodies. Since 2010, the women of Bihar have outmatched men in terms of voter turnout. During his second term as chief minister, he gave 35 per cent reservation to women in police. He promised to implement prohibition ahead of the 2015 elec­tions, in which 60 per cent of women voted, as against 50 per cent of men. His schemes, like providing funds to schoolgirls for bicycles and sanitary napkins, were aimed at containing their school dropout rate. But most of all, he is credited with improving the law and order situation, which af­fected women most. Hoping to reach out to the constituency nurtured by Nitish, the Mahagathbandhan has promised a monthly assistance of ₹2,500 to women from financially vulnerable backgrounds, if it came to power. Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party pledged to secure 40 of the 243 Bihar Assembly seats in the state to women.

Kumar has managed to hedge anti-incumbency, yet his party’s tally fell from 71 in 2015 to 43 in 2020. Chirag Paswan’s Lok Jan­shakti Party (Ram Vilas) had fought separately, hurting the JD(U). This time, both Paswan and Rashtriya Lok Morcha’s (RLM) Up­endra Kushwaha are on board with the NDA. Since Nitish first became chief minister, his party has been in power, even as he has switched sides, entering alliances with RJD or BJP. But, with age not on his side and no succession plan in sight, uncertainty hovers over the future of his party.

While voting is dictated by the party or alliance, there are pockets whereitisinfluencedbythecandidate.“TheOppositioncandidateis there for the poor,” saysRGupta, whorunsadhabainBhojpur’sArrah. For the constituency, the CPI-ML, a member of the Mahagathband­han which had won 12 of the 19 seats it contested in 2020, has put up Quyamuddin Ansari, who lost to BJP’s Amrendra Pratap Singh in 2020. In the same district in Piyaniya village of Sandesh con­stituency, Manoj Paswan backs the Mahagathbandhan, saying he has never seen Chirag Paswan, whose LJP(RV) has been allotted 29 seats in NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement. But, Manju Devi, also a Paswan, who is picking up packets of chips to sell at her shop, is happy she could start a small business with the ₹10,000 she has got from the Nitish government.

“It used to take six hours to reach my home in Sitamarhi. Now it takes less than three hours. All this has happened after Nitish came,” says the driver, Shankar. As it continues to drizzle, a group of women, several of them barefoot, wearing silver anklets, walk on the slushy road. At the dhabas, people gather for kulhads of hot tea, singhara (samosa) and litti. Politics is in the air. Whoever comes to power, Nitish Kumar has cast the dye for governance in a state which is caught between old caste affiliations and aspirations for a better life.