Chirag Paswan joins 'Jungle Raj' chorus: Has Nitish Kumar's biggest fear come back to haunt him?

LJP(RV) chief Chirag Paswan has taken on the Nitish Kumar-led government on the law and order issue. (File Photo: X/Chirag Paswan)

A catchphrase popularised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the early 2000s to describe the 15-year 'misrule' of the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal appears to have returned to haunt the Janata Dal (united) leader just ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in the state.

A series of killings and other criminal incidents across the state over the past week alone has given fodder to the Opposition to turn the tables on the Chief Minister and claim that the 'Jungle Raj' that he made synonymous with the RJD's tenure in Bihar, was flourishing under his own rule in the state.

The murder of Patna-based businessman Gopal Khemka on July 4 by contract killers in the heart of the capital has given a virtual lifeline to RJD to take on the Nitish government on the issue of ‘jungle raj’. The RJD has also highlighting the murder of five persons of the same family in a village in Purnea, three in Siwan, and another three in Buxar over the past one week to show the sorry state of law and order in Bihar.

However, what has made matters worse for Nitish is that Lok Janshakti Party (RV) chief Chirag Paswan also appears to have joined the bandwagon to target the ruling administration over the deteriorating law and order. There are two primary reasons that make Paswan's criticism Nitish's biggest headache.

On Monday, Paswan singled out the killing of two individuals in Bihar Sharif in Nalanda, a district home to Nitish, to claim that law and order in the state had collapsed.

"Criminals brutally hot dead 16-year-old Himanshu Paswan and 20-year-old Anu Kumar in Nalanda's Biharsharif. This incident is extremely unfortunate and condemnable. This heinous event not only shakes humanity but also shows that law and order in Bihar have completely collapsed,” he wrote in a post on X on Monday.

Paswan, who has been eying a higher share of seats for the LJP(RV) within the NDA grouping in the state, also serves as a Union minister in the central cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Such harsh criticism for the ruling government in the state, also led by the NDA, makes it even more embarrassing for the Chief Minister, who also holds charge of the Home portfolio.

The second, and perhaps the bigger headache for Nitish, is the damage that Paswan's solo act inflicted upon the JD(U) in the 2020 polls in Bihar. The bigger worry for Nitish is the fear of a repeat of the 2020 outcome where the LJP(RV) virtually resulted in the defeat of JD(U) candidates in 26 seats.

The LJP(RV) contested the 2020 Assembly elections alone after walking out of the alliance over differences with Nitish. Despite winning only one seat of the 135 it contested, the LJP had managed to inflict significant damage on the JD(U)'s poll performance.

Date from the 2020 polls shows that the LJP secured more votes than the margin with which JD(U) candidates lost in 26 seats where they went head to head. The LJP(RV) was seen as the sole factor behind the JD(U)'s reduced tally of 43 in the 243-member Assembly. The JD(U) had contested 115 seats in the polls, the highest in the NDA.

Paswan's LJP, which returned to the NDA in 2023 and fought the Lok Sabha elections as part of the alliance, received another leg up when it won all five Lok Sabha seats it contested. On the back of this strong performance, the LJP(RV) has positioned itself as a key stakeholder and demanded a high share of seats.

It is part of this tactic that Paswan's aggressive campaign needs to be seen in. Over the past few days, Paswan has said that the LJP (RV) is ready to contest all 243 seats alone, claimed that there were attempts to thwart his entry to Bihar and also targeted Nitish on the law and order issue.

The developments, as a result, have left Nitish in a peculiar situation. Possibly at the fag end of his career, a challenge by Paswan on 2020 lines could potentially leave him and his party in an existential battle. With the BJP already breathing down its neck, Nitish needs more than off-the-mill measures to control the damage in peak election season.

The state cabinet's approval to 35 percent reservation for women in government jobs was possibly aimed at doing the trick.