The forthcoming Bihar Assembly election is not just another election but one with broader social and political implications.
Published Aug 29, 2025 | 12:00 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 29, 2025 | 12:00 PM
INDIA bloc leaders during a rally in Bihar.
Synopsis: The Assembly election in Bihar, due in October this year, is keenly watched by political observers in the context of whether the NDA will repeat its victory. In Bihar, the BJP is perceived of the fact that the INDIA bloc is united than ever. The RJD, Congress and the Left are on the same wavelength.
The fertile Ganges valley of Bihar has witnessed intense churning since time immemorial — the socialist politics of Ram Manohar Lohia in the 1960s, total revolution by Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s and Mandal uprising in 1980s — is once again entwined in a mass mobilisation. This time, it is piloted together by the Congress and the socialist movement.
The BJP, which was an inconsequential factor in Bihar politics a decade ago, has also now emerged on its own, riding on the popularity waves of JD(U) chief and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union Minister Chirag Paswan. The leaders have allied with the NDA, taking a cue from former defence minister George Fernandes.
The Assembly election in Bihar, due in October this year, is keenly watched by political observers in the context of whether the NDA will repeat a victory, turning the tables on the Mahagatabandhan, which lost power last time between cup and lips.
Another aspect by which the state election in Bihar attracted national attention is due to the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, which excluded 65 lakh voters. Most of them are rural poor and migrant labourers.
However, to everyone’s dismay, the Election Commission (EC) refused to publish the list of excluded voters, but the Supreme Court prevailed upon the EC to publish it. To be included in the voters’ list, the burden of proof rests with the applicant. Without the intervention of the Supreme Court, the popular ID cards like Aadhar and Voter ID would have become worthless.
The EC itself cut a sorry figure in the press conference it held to refute the charges made by Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
To justify the exclusion of the rural poor from the voters’ list, the ruling establishment alleged that many of them are unauthorised immigrants from neighbouring countries.
The Economic and Political Weekly exposed the fallacy of this argument a couple of weeks ago in an editorial, when it brought to light how four Indian citizens from Murshidabad and Burdwan districts in West Bengal were charged as Bangladesh citizens by Maharashtra police.
This is a classic case of how Indian citizens, who are part of the nation-building process, are humiliated by the State.
With the battle lines in Bihar becoming clear, the BJP is waging the war with a vengeance since it suffered a stunning setback in the 18th Lok Sabha elections. It could secure only 240 seats, far short of a simple majority.
Its vote percentage had also fallen from 37 to 36 percent. Many of their dreams, like a comprehensive Constitution amendment and the “one nation, one poll”, perished. However, since then, it has been winning state elections one by one — in Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and Chhattisgarh — due to the disunity in the Opposition INDIA bloc.
But in Bihar, the BJP is perceived of the fact that the INDIA bloc is united than ever. The RJD, Congress and the Left are on the same wavelength. There seems to be a perceptible change in the attitude of voters; surveys indicate that they would prefer a change of guard in Bihar.
The social indicators are abysmally low, though the state is endowed with rich minerals and metals. Almost one in every five people from its population is living in exile in other states for livelihood.
Land reform is no longer on the agenda. A new generation of socialists, with Tejashwi Yadav at the helm, seems to have captured the imagination of the people, bolstered by Rahul Gandhi’s enhanced stature.
The communal politics of the BJP can be countered by the social justice politics of the Lohia socialists, whose main constituencies are Dalits, Backward Classes, tribals, and minorities. Thus, the forthcoming Bihar Assembly election is not just another election but one with broader social and political implications.
(The author is the Kerala State General Secretary of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. Views are personal. Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
