Bihar elections 2025: “Main loudspeaker nahin hoon, kaam karne wala hoon ( I am not a loudspeaker, I am someone who believes in doing work),” Nitish Kumar’s voice echoed in the crowd in early 2000s, the years which were going to define him as the chief minister of a politically important state of the country – Bihar.
Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar is the man who has managed to steer the politics of Bihar around him in every Bihar election in the past over 20 years. He took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar on November 24, 2005 and since then, his journey at the top post in the state continued, with a brief halt of 9 months from May 2014 to Feb 2015.
Often targeted by the opposition as ‘paltu ram (frequent turncoat)’, Nitish Kumar has held his ground and vote bank stronger always.
The making of Nitish from an MP to the CM
India’s politics has nurtured several leaders from movements that have also turned the tide in favour of a few persons, who went on to lead the decades of regime. Two of them are Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav – leaders who rose together, worked together, only to part ways later.
Nitish Kumar has learned from the veterans who have changed political discourse in the country. Ram Manohar Lohia, SN Sinha, Karpuri Thakur and VP Singh are some names under whom Nitish Kumar has mastered the politics of politics. His participation in the Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement (JP movement) between 1974 and 1977, made him a popular name in the eyes of several legendary politicians. He later joined the Janata party headed by Satyendra Narain Sinha.
In 1985, Kumar fought his first election to the state assembly from Harnaut, and won. With time, he made his image as a leader who was a voice for backward castes and backed secularism. In 1995, Nitish planned to move on and joined top BJP leaders AB Vajpayee and LK Advani in their cause.
The next year, he won his first Lok Sabha seat from Barh. From here, he went to hold the agriculture portfolio in the central government, and some others in subsequent years – which laid the path him being a new leader in Bihar.
In his latest book, Jag Narayan Singh Yadav, a leader who has watch Nitish’s political graph very closely, says, “The large import of Nitish Kumar’s speeches in Parliament highlights how our democracy faces many obstructive elements such as separatism, terrorism, casteism, regionalism, and corruption. Participating in a debate on corruption, Nitish said the House should pass a resolution to express serious concern about corruption prevalent in all spheres of life and requests the government to take the sternest action to eradicate this evil.”
Nitish Kumar – The Railway Minister
Nitish Kumar gained popularity when he was given the portfolio of Railway Minister from 2001 to 2004 in the Atal Bihar Vajpayee government. His term was full of developmental step, especially the ones he called “railways’ social responsibilities”.
He introduced concessions for disabled travellers, journalists, recipients of the President’s police medal; as a major step, he also reduced the senior citizen age limit from 65 to 60 years, increased the second-class concession from 25% to 30%, and extended facilities for the disabled in second-class and sleeper class to AC 3-tier and chair cars, reported Indian Express.
His time was heavily focused on Gauge conversion to enable the railways for a safer and longer expansion.
Nitish Kumar – The Bihar CM
In 2000, Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time, with the support of NDA. Former PM Atal Bihar Vajpayee nominated him for the top post in the state.
But the government lasted only for seven days. With Lalu already holding horses before the rivals could, Nitish knew he wouldn’t be able to prove majority on the floor test, and so the government fell. Lalu Yadav, embroiled in multiple controversies, made his wife Rabri Devi the Chief Minister of Bihar.
The fallout of 2000 was to end and Nitish Kumar, now 74, was to see what later wrote his name among those having the longest Chief Ministerial tenures in the country. During his tenure from 2005-2010, Nitish would often say, “Bihar ko badnaam karne walon ko main jawab de raha hoon apne kaam se.“
The 2014 resignation: Nitish puts principle above politics
Come the Lok Sabha Elections 2014, the Narendra Modi wave swept the polls in BJP’s favour. Nitish Kumar’s JDU decided to sever the decade-old ties with the saffron party in 2013 over naming of Narendra Modi as the PM candidate, and was reduced to only 2 in the general election while BJP bagged 22 out of 40.
Taking responsibility for the abysmal performance of the party, Nitish Kumar resigned as Bihar CM. Nine months later in 2015, he again took oath as the CM with the support of RJD and Congress. The alliance won the Bihar polls, Nitish became the CM and Tejashwi Yadav the Deputy CM. But in two years, Nitish Kumar changed allegiance again and ditched the RJD-JDU coalition in 2017 on the issue of corruption charges against Tejashwi Yadav.
“Rajneeti mein kisi se dosti ya dushmani nahi hoti, sirf rajneeti hoti hai,” he had then said, to justify his actions.
When chorus grew for Nitish as PM
The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 was another journey for Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. A mass movement was being run by the opposition when they unitedly decided to raise a united front to take on the BJP-led NDA government. Nitish, now with RJD and Congress since 2022, led the formation of the mega alliance. The grand bloc of opposition – INDIA, came into existence in 2023 and Nitish Kumar steered the path.
His leadership was praised, as he went behind every opposition party to come on one page against the PM Modi government. The task was tough, yet Kumar managed to meet and get onboard more than 20 political parties for the mega alliance. Many said he has become the undecided convener of the grand alliance, and hence the de-facto face for the Prime Minister.
But then a glitch happened for INDIA bloc. And Nitish did a Nitish Kumar – he switched sides. The Bihar CM resigned, leaving the RJD-led alliance in Bihar and left the INDIA bloc saying “things were not working out well”, leaving behind his brainchild of an alliance against NDA.
The Nitish factor in Bihar
Nitish Kumar, who many call as ‘Chankya’ of politics, knows how to remain relevant and survive the tides. Despite multiple criticism on liquor ban in the state, he said multiple times – “Sharab bandi pe main jhukne wala nahin”, a statement that defined his strictness on decisions,
On the other hand, he has been quite flexible as well. After returning to NDA in 2024, Nitish vowed he won’t switch sides again, which he has been doing quite frequently for the past 15 years.
Despite these break-ups and patch-ups, Nitish Kumar has managed to be the face of the ruling alliance again. The big question is, is he still the X factor in Bihar polls?
The answer is with the people of Bihar, whose vote will clear the confusion on Nov 14, when the results are announced.
