How Nitish Kumar Replaced Lalu To Become Bihar's Central Axis

Amid many comical observations of Lalu Yadav, the most relevant and longstanding is about his political arch-rival and brother, Nitish Kumar, the current Chief Minister of Bihar.

The statement, “Nitish has teeth in his stomach,” exemplifies how, just when observers write him off, he does something unexpected to resuscitate himself. Prashant Kishor once observed that Nitish operates from a position of weakness, an apt description of his political method.

Simply put, as long as the Chief Minister remains in play, the game is not over until he calls it.

Something similar transpired midway through the Bihar elections. Realising that the ticket distribution of his party, Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)), clashed with his style of principled and representative politics, the veteran socialist intervened. Seventy of the 101 candidates were new, and even castes with less than one percent of the population received representation.

He suddenly shed his hibernation, moving with the urgency of a junior cadet nearing retirement. On one rainy day, when Tejashwi Yadav cancelled his campaign due to bad weather, the Chief Minister, twice his age, covered hundreds of miles by road.

He has re-emerged as the central axis of Bihar’s politics. The election now revolves around him, not for or against Lalu Yadav. Women, often considered subdued in a state with under 70,000 rupees per capita income, are defying their husbands to support him.

A viral Lallantop video captured the mood. An RJD supporter complained that his wife had gone mad after receiving 10,000 rupees from Nitish. When asked if she would vote for him, he snapped, “How can she? I’ll thrash her with twenty lathis!” That summed up the opposition’s frustration.

Their leaders, however, adopted a calibrated response. Days after becoming the Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial face, Tejashwi Yadav sensed the public’s punishing mood towards anyone mocking Nitish or his health. His frailty is now seen as normal, like that of a kindly neighbourhood grandpa.

Rumours, Countermoves, and the Collapse of the Anti-Nitish Narrative

The anti-Nitish campaign backfired on both the Mahagathbandhan and Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party (JSP). Kishor even tried to salvage his position by endorsing Nitish over Tejashwi as chief ministerial candidate. RJD, meanwhile, employed trickier tactics. Its cadres told gullible voters that JD(U) and RJD were in the same alliance, while its social media cell spread rumours of internal discord between JD(U) and Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

One such tweet read, “BJP-LJP folks are not getting votes cast for JDU, and JDU folks are not getting votes cast for BJP-LJP! Has any leader from BJP, LJP, or JDU ever denied this throughout the entire election?? This time only #तेजस्वी_सरकार ! @yadavtejashwi”

Another tweet read, “JDU's vigilant supporters are not voting for BJP and LJP, and BJP and LJP members are not getting votes for JDU! Avoid such mutual conspiracies, betrayal, internal sabotage, and head-butting alliances, otherwise your vote will go to waste! Quietly press the button for the lantern symbol and the grand alliance to form a job-employment #तेजस्वी_सरकार! Anyway, Nitish Kumar ji becoming an Eknath Shinde is certain! He has chosen this downfall for himself! @yadavtejashwi”

From this position of perception deficit, RJD has realised that its politics, built around personifying power in one omnipotent figure, is at existential risk. From 1990 to 2005, Lalu Yadav embodied that model, his word final on everything from ransom deals to policy.

The Architecture of Inclusion: Nitish’s Long Game of Social Reconstruction

The JD(U) leader was among the first to recognise the flaw. While Lalu was busy Mandalising and secularising his politics, Nitish spotted a glitch in the matrix of Bihar’s backward politics. He resisted the Yadavisation of that space long before experts began writing about it.

Though he began by promising the two Ks their due share, he soon evolved into a consensus builder who aimed to fulfil what Lalu had promised but failed to deliver. His social engineering drew strength from disenchantment with Lalu’s Yadav-centric politics.

When Yadavs monopolised state benefits, Kurmis and Kushwahas turned to him.

When the Extremely Backward Classes tired of being pawns in the forward versus backward game, they looked to him.

When Dalits saw their economic stagnation deepen despite being vocal, they turned to him.

When poor upper castes felt persecuted, BJP’s alliance with him gave them hope.

When Pasmanda Muslims sought equality within their community, he promised reform and delivered.

When women sought safety during Jungle Raj, his record as a clean Union Minister inspired trust.

In a caste-driven society, the Chief Minister built a broad base with full or partial backing from nearly every group. His communal politics was not limited to symbolic Iftaars; he arrested hate mongers, Hindu or Muslim alike.

When he took charge, Bihar was not an emblem of social justice but a state divided by a Marxist-style binary of proletarian versus bourgeois, where caste elites monopolised power. Nitish institutionalised these divisions, bifurcating both OBCs and Dalits. Yet, this consolidation also prevented the rise of a unified Hindu identity, which bolstered his secular credentials. Both Muslims and women felt secure under his leadership.

His politics turned every caste and class into a political constituency, except women, who emerged as a separate beneficiary class. His schemes uplifted them socially and economically, strengthening his own support base. This was evident in the 2010 Assembly elections and beyond, for even when other groups shifted allegiance, women stayed loyal.

His social engineering rested on the ruins of Yadavisation. The Lalu phenomenon had become entrenched like a cross; Nitish’s rise was its counterbalance. His politics ran parallel to Lalu’s, though in a different era. Whether punishing strongmen or enforcing deadlines, his actions are always compared to the RJD era, a contrast that often works to his advantage.

Nitish as Bihar’s Moral and Political Centre

It also burdens his legacy. Comparisons invite the question: has he done enough? The answer is yes. He has done enough to establish a new benchmark for Bihar, and he has already been judged on it.

The anti-incumbency wave of 2020 and Kishor’s sharp criticisms only reaffirmed this. Until recently, his government seemed unprepared for battle, battered by criticism from all quarters. Yet even in these controversies, he was being measured against his own record, not RJD’s.

Slogans like “Nitish’s own Jungle Raj” briefly trended before collapsing under the weight of the real “Jungle Raj”. The public simply could not imagine Nitish and lawlessness in the same sentence. NDA’s strategists grasped this, which is why they barely countered Tejashwi’s crime bulletins.

Beyond communication tactics, his administrative and political record make him a natural axis of Bihar politics, independent of any comparison with an era universally regarded as regressive.

The Chief Minister is among the rare socialists to stand by his principles of honesty, fairness, and aversion to nepotism. Even when his own leaders pushed for his son Nishant to take charge, he refused, a resolve last seen in Shri Krishna Singh and Karpoori Thakur.

It is no surprise that his tenure is now discussed alongside theirs in Bihar’s administrative history. Longevity and steady institutional effect have become defining features of these discussions.

Women, Bihar’s most dependable and least political voting bloc, see him through this prism. To many, he remains the man who freed them from alcohol abuse, dependency, cheap labour, and the indignity of signing with a thumb.

For nearly two decades, Bihar’s politics has revolved around him in opposition, alliance, or accusation. That is perhaps Nitish Kumar’s most enduring achievement: he has not only survived Bihar’s volatility, he has become its measure of stability.