After Nitish |
The elevation of Samrat Choudhary as chief minister marks more than a routine change of guard in Bihar. It signals the end of a political arrangement that revolved around the adaptability of one man, Nitish Kumar, and the beginning of a more structurally driven phase in the state’s politics. For nearly two decades, governance in Bihar was synonymous with Mr Nitish Kumar’s personal authority.
His tenure restored a semblance of order after the turbulent years associated with former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, and reintroduced the idea that the state could be administered with a degree of predictability. Roads were built, electricity reached villages, and women became a visible political constituency through targeted welfare measures. These were not trivial achievements in a state long defined by administrative decay. Yet the durability of Mr Kumar’s rule came at a cost. His repeated shifts between alliances ~ most notably between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its rivals ~ gradually transformed governance into an exercise in political survival.
Stability was maintained, but direction became uncertain.........