New NDA Govt in Bihar and the Task before Left & Democratic Forces
Arun Mishra
THE swearing-in ceremony of the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar was organised in the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna on November 20, when 26 leaders took oath of office as cabinet ministers with Nitish Kumar as the chief minister. Kumar taking oath as chief minister for a record 10th time was hailed by the national media as an example of the complete coordination and ideological cohesion between the BJP and the JDU which will herald a new era of industrial and socio-economic development of Bihar.
What is not being asked is why the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in its two-decade rule failed to put Bihar on the road to development. Why is it still at the bottom in all human development indices? Even the latest data of Niti Aayog corroborate the dismal record of the Nitish Kumar government in education, health, job creation, and providing homes to the homeless, etc.
During the oath-taking ceremony, veteran journalist Ashutosh exposed the real socio-economic conditions of Bihar, citing data, on a TV news channel. According to him, there are only 4% people whose income is Rs 50,000 per month, 96% of the people of Bihar don’t have personal vehicles, 34% are extremely poor in comparison with the national figure of 17%, only 6% people are graduate, per capita electricity consumption is 373 KW in comparison with national consumption of 1,223 KW. The state’s per capita income is the lowest at Rs 810. When India got independence, Bihar’s contribution to national GDP was 6%, it went down to 4% in 1990s and further shrank to 2.65% during the Nitish Kumar government -- which shows the pitiable condition of Bihar.
Kumar started his political career as the leader of Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha and came to prominence during the JP Movement along with Lalu Prasad, but subsequently became the blue-eyed boy of the BJP by putting aside the baggage of social justice. From early 1970s to 2025, Kumar has undergone multiple political incarnations to fulfil his never-ending quest for power, and he has certainly achieved it. As a central minister and thereafter as the chief minister, he has shaped the politics of Bihar in many ways. His political somersaults are a matter of research for students of politics and scholars in the years to come. But if we look at the politics of social democracy world over, they facilitate the growth of fascism by compromising on the basic issue of class contradictions that emerge particularly during the acute crisis faced by capitalism. Nitish Kumar will not only be remembered for his ideological bankruptcy but also for providing wider space to the BJP-RSS to spread its wings in the land of militant communist and socialist movement.
Here lies the difference between the politics of Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. Despite many omissions and commissions of Lalu Prasad he stood like a rock before the marauding communal force during L K Advani’s “Rath Yatra”, arrested him in Samastipur and put him in jail. I can recall the massive gathering of common people of Bihar waving red flags and green flags together in the same historic Gandhi Maidan, which was addressed by Lalu Prasad, Jyoti Basu and other secular stalwarts. Since then, much water has flown down the Ganges. The old feudal forces represented by the BJP have been successful in utilising the social chasm between the middle cast, particularly the Yadavs, and OBC, EBC and Dalits added and abated by Nitish Kumar. He has not only pushed the socio-economic agenda of the poor and marginalised into the background but also allowed the RSS-BJP to propagate reactionary agenda through various religious festivals and seers spreading all sorts of superstitions and unscientific ideas.
Entry of Bulldozer Raj
Since the installation of the NDA government in Bihar with the home ministry under the BJP, the bulldozer raj of the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government is being replicated with full intensity bereft of any human compassion and sympathy for the poor and marginalised sections, inhabiting the length and breadth of Bihar. In the name of anti-encroachment drive, the most vulnerable homeless and landless people living for years on tiny pieces of land are being targeted with impunity, leaving them to face the harsh winter weather under the open sky. Heart-wrenching scenes of crying women and children have made their way into social media from Samastipur, Darbhanga, Begusarai, Nalanda and several other places. The ongoing anti-encroachment drive is nothing but to cover up the abject failure of the government to provide 5 decimal of homestead land to the homeless and landless people. The landless and homeless people have fought relentlessly under the banner of the red flag and, after a lot of sacrifices, have acquired government gair-majarua land, surplus ceiling lands, Bhoodan lands and have built homes, put up huts and are living for decades on those lands. The CPI(M) has led such movements right from the beginning and all across Bihar hundreds of villages and hamlets bear the names of our legendary leaders. Hundreds of comrades, men and women along with one of the tallest leaders of Kisan movement, Ajit Sarkar, Khetihar Mazdoor Union leader Ramnath Mahto, were martyred. Land mafias, builders and the soaring prices of land have made the situation quite explosive as these people are eyeing these lands Dalit, minority and tribal communities are living for decades. Even those who have government land rights are being evicted through fraudulent litigations in connivance with corrupt officials. The government’s plea is that it is carrying out the orders of the court, but in reality is complicit in the entire machination.
It seems the new government has declared a war against the poor in rural and urban areas. Vendors and hawkers are daily hounded out from their workplaces in the name of clearing the traffic congestion. What we are witnessing in Bihar is to pay back those who have provided money and muscle power to the present dispensation. Bihar has only assets and that is land which must be put into the hands of land mafias, builders, developers, of course to Adani who are paying enormously to the coffers of the BJP-JD(U).
After getting the home ministry, Samrat Choudhary thundered that no criminal will find a place in Bihar. When criminals and murderers have made their way to the camp of BJP, his announcement is a call to all such persons outside to join at the earliest to save themselves.
Task before the Left
The task before the left and democratic forces is to force the present government to fulfil all the promises it has made in its manifesto for providing jobs to 1 crore people of Bihar, Rs 2 lakh to the women beneficiaries receiving Rs 10,000, for industrialisation, and those regarding education, health, etc. During the first Assembly session, which started on December 1, the lone CPI(M) member Ajay Kumar raised the issue of land reforms and asked the government as to why it shelved the report of the Bandyopadhyay Commission? Why did the government fail to provide 5 decimal homestead land to the homeless and landless people? He also raised issues related to education and health. The CPI(M) has given a call to all its district committees to intervene and mobilise the traumatised people to fight the bulldozer raj.
The next task is to go to the people to make them aware of their rights as citizens not to be lured by some financial assistance from time to time. The left, particularly the CPI(M), will have to launch class and mass struggles for land, employment and the dignity of labour. The vast number of peasants and workers working as contract workers, agency workers, gig workers, transport workers, requires all-out effort to organise them and unleash a wave of movements independently and jointly with other left parties and democratic forces.
