A 20-year trip from 7-day failure to long-term rule

At that time in the Legislative assembly Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal with 124 members was the largest force present in the hall. Nitish’s Samata Party on the other hand had only 34 seats. He had the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and others with a total tally of 151. This support was the key that drove the governor to ask him to stake claim to the chief minister’s post. Since Nitish became the chief minister rumours were rife that Lalu’s close associate Shahabuddin had ringfenced 23 Congress MLAs. Despite being the chief minister Nitish was helpless. In a decade of his rule Lalu had uniquely modified the Bihar administration.

It was impossible to root out the ‘system’ in just seven days.

The inevitable happened and with an emotional speech Nitish Kumar bowed out of his first term in power. “Bihar’s public is witnessing how democracy is being held hostage. Do we want to offer such politics to Bihar where even the public representatives aren’t free to move about?” were his desperate words.

After this dramatic event Rabri Devi became the chief minister. Why? Lalu was in no mood to risk his position by offering the CM’s post to any outsider. He knew the party could break. Today the same game is being played albeit with different players.

Since his decision to leave 1, Ane Marg, Nitish Kumar is doing exactly the same as his rivals did earlier. Lalu made his wife, who till the other day looked after the house, the CM, and Nitish had to bring his reticent son Nishant Kumar in politics.

However, the question remains, will Nishant be able to fill in the boots left by his father? The other question is who would control the government in Bihar?

It’s clear if the saffron party misses the chance this time, they’ll regret it for time to come. The most important reason is that despite consistently winning more seats than JDU the highest they have ever aspired was for a deputy CM’s post. The second problem is Sushil Modi’s long, and successful tenure as the Bihar deputy CM stifled the growth of any big state leader in the BJP.

There’s a big section in Bihar that feels Nitish’s third and fourth terms weren’t that great. Rumours are doing the rounds about his health. At this juncture Nitish’s decision to move to Rajya Sabha is a reflection of his political maturity.

Anyone from the BJP or the JDU, who moves into 1, Ane Marg will take a very long time to match the stature of Nitish Kumar. After a lot of efforts Nitish was able to bring Bihar out of the ‘jungle raj’. As a journalist I have witnessed the sorry state of roads, decline of institutions and the shabby state of police stations in the state. Once I asked Nitish how he was able to make the turnaround? He replied, I had to deal with the problem at its root. He said when he came to power for the second time he found the police stations had vehicles but no fuel, people had to bring their own paper to lodge a complaint.

After pausing for a moment, Nitish Kumar said what can you expect when the police use outdated vehicles to carry out a raid and people bring their own paper to lodge a complaint? Similarly, untarred roads, potholes and an uncomfortable drive became synonymous with Bihar.

Nitish Kumar brought about a change. His cycle scheme gave wings to the girl child. Today women form 35% of the Bihar police force. There has been a phenomenal change in government offices and schools. A house and tap water for everyone, and electricity connection schemes have started. Some schemes reached fruition, some were not that successful but they acted in unison to bring Bihar out of the morass of bad governance it was in.

During this period Nitish made some harsh decisions. Prohibition was one of them. He solidified his women vote bank but also opened the flood gates to illicit and spurious liquor trade.

This would be the biggest challenge the new chief minister will have to deal with. He will not only have to emerge from the shadows of a huge leader who straddled Bihar’s political arena for two decades but also deal with the wave of new expectations the last elections have raised.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. Views are personal.