File photo: Nitish Kumar
New Delhi: After two decades in charge of Bihar, Nitish Kumar He eventually gave up the seat he created, triggering a backlash from angry supporters and criticism from the opposition, which called it another example of bjp Like Maharashtra “cannibalizing” its allies.But Kumar appears to have left quietly, posting on X his desire to work in Parliament.As evidenced in his statement, the aloofness with which he left office was matched by the ruthless cunning with which he ensured he remained in the prime minister’s seat after 2005, no matter who he went with and which ally had more MLAs. After all, it was all a move by ‘Pathu Ram’, who won the majority and ousted Lalu Prasad as president. RJD It was established in Patna in 2005 and later joined hands with the RJD and Congress in Bihar. In 2015, as part of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, he humiliated Narendra Modi’s newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi. He returned to the NDA in 2017, then moved to the RJD and Congress in 2022 before re-alliing with the BJP in January 2024. During this time, he resigned and was sworn in as Chief Minister.
The flip-flop is not just about the party but also about the ideology and the actors who have gone from being “never for Modi” to being willing partners of the Prime Minister. But through his ideological shift, Kumar has carved out a never-before-seen niche – as an OBC politician bringing the ‘Mandal+’ era to the fore in a backward state, and as a strategist striving to carve out a personal constituency for himself. He also stands out because he is a rare figure – an OBC politician from the north who can govern the country well and is not tainted by corruption charges.Kumar’s equality with voters was reflected in the 2025 assembly elections. As his increasing gaffes and eccentricities, coupled with a long absence from the public eye, raise questions about his mental acuity, the opposition has stepped up its efforts to demand that the BJP appoint its own chief minister, as it has done in Maharashtra. The BJP has increased Kumar’s campaign rallies and announcements. This is said to have done the trick by reinforcing the message of “Jodya Modi-Nitish ke hit hoi” (Modi-Nitish partnership will prevail). On the road to solidifying his position as governor, Kumar received help from the low threshold set by his former comrade Lalu. He raised the issues of “integrity” and “crime”, which he and the BJP have been discussing for years to put the rival RJD at a disadvantage.But the real cunning lies in coming up with a strategy to overcome the RJD’s caste advantage in a state with an overwhelming OBC/Dalit population. Kumar set a template here that was later followed by other states. Kumar, who hails from the OBC Kurmi caste, which accounts for a minuscule proportion of the population, was quick to classify the OBC population according to their status of “development” (backward and most backward). He has monopolized the loyalty of a large section of the “aspirational” OBC community while turning “Yadavisation” into a cudgel with which to defeat his opponents. The “Yadav vs. non-Yadav” polarization sustained him for two decades. Kumar tried the same with ‘Dalits vs Mahadalits’ but failed as political compulsions forced him to dilute the ‘Mahadalit’ label by including the stronger community.The game-changer was that when he looked for individual voters, he focused on the pan-caste category “women”. From his earliest days signaling reservation through Panchayat, to providing bicycles to girls, to microfinance/self-help groups, to providing relief to women, the JDU leader has blended his ‘welfarism’ with ‘development’ to win the loyalty of a key voting bloc. The question remains whether women vote independently of family and caste factors, but it consolidates the pro-JDU segment on multiple levels, downplaying factors such as anti-incumbency.To have managed to forge personalized loyalties in the quicksands of competitive caste politics since Lalu was ousted from the Patna throne is an unparalleled feat.
