The Bihar political model, reshaped by Nitish Kumar who was sworn-in 10 times as chief minister, but who also resigned six times, is set to continue post his exit from state politics, largely for health reasons, to enter the Rajya Sabha as an elder statesman.
In Nitish’s time as CM, to resign and then to come back to head the government with a different alignment of forces, was a decisive strategy that allowed him to continue in power, while demonstrating that numbers are just a political game. In his career in public life, Samrat Choudhary switched three parties, from the RJD to the JD(U) and the BJP before being elevated as the deputy CM to Nitish Kumar.
Samrat, who is in a sense also a “paltu” as they sat in a crude definition of an old party-hopping tradition of Indian politics, has stepped into Sushasan Babu’s large shoes. At a turning point for Bihar that has entered another political era, he is set to take on the challenge of keeping a firm hand on the law & order machinery like Nitish while taking forward a different kind of dispensation under a saffron disposition.
In Bihar, for long considered a lawless state, law & order is a prerequisite for all other interventions as without safety there can be no investment, no enterprise, no development, no reforms. To Nitish’s eternal credit, his legacy can be computed in the state’s economic transformation from ‘Bimaru’ or sick financial state to a GSDP growth rate in double figures, albeit from a low base, and which is set to continue as Bihar may have left its dark days well behind.
However, a lot remains to be done as the state’s per capita income remains one of the lowest in the country and urban joblessness a phenomenon considerable enough for over half the households of the state to have at least one member who had to migrate to find work. The tragedy of moving to find work was never more stressed as in the time of the Covid pandemic when reverse migration meant a painful walk home, logging hundreds of kilometres.
While Bihar dispensing a payment to all women workers ahead of the polls last year was criticised by Opposition parties, none of them has steered clear of replicating it in their states, many of which are going to the polls in this year’s cycle. But making the female voter feel like a stakeholder rather than just the beneficiary of an online payment was the start of an important innovation in life in India, which Bihar has gifted.
The Bihar that Nitish leaves behind as he goes to Parliament is vastly different from the one he inherited in his long run as CM though his first stint had lasted only days. To live up to not just his image — which might seem an impossible task now — but to his governance model is vital for the state. And therein lies Samrat’s greatest challenge for his days at the helm will be closely watched though he will benefit from leading a national party in the state which can expect to get federal funds generously.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
