OPINION | Nitish Kumar didn’t just demolish the opposition, he’s also changed intra-NDA dynamics

The Bihar victory will put an end to all the speculation which showed Nitish’s party in very poor light. (Source: PTI)

The old adage goes that behind every successful man there is a woman. But in the case of Nitish Kumar, who today won the battle of Bihar convincingly and is sure to be reappointed as Chief Minister for yet another term, there are literally millions of women!

There is no doubt that he was swept to victory by sheer woman power. For the first time in Bihar, women out-voted men in the turnout on both polling days, laying the foundations of Nitish’s record win. Against the overall turnout of 66.91 percent, the voting percent among women was 71.6 percent – significantly 8.8 percent higher than the 62.8 percent among men.

Official statistics show that 2.52 crore women exercised their franchise compared to 2.47 crore men – a difference of five lakh. And they did make sure that Nitish won defeating the caste arithmetic and incumbency which many feared would be his undoing.

Nitish is his own man

No less significant and striking is Nitish’s signalling no sooner the exit polls showed that the National Democratic Alliance would trounce the Mahagathbandhan. Defying his alliance partner -- the Bharatiya Janata Party – the Janata Dal (United) leader visited a Hindu temple, a Muslim shrine and a Sikh Gurudwara yesterday. In quick succession, he prayed at Patna’s Mahavir temple before heading to the Dargah of Hazrat Syed Shah Ghulam Safdar and the Takhat Sri Harimandir Ji where he performed various rituals in full public view.

Nitish’s three visits sent a clear message that he is his own man.  He struck a timely posture to exert pressure on the BJP to honour the coalition dharma and give partners their own ideological and breathing space.

Although Narendra Modi campaigned non-stop in Bihar as I have reported, and Patna became Amit Shah’s second home, there is no doubt that it is Nitish’s governance record that resulted in the NDA’s landslide win. He is the “Man of the Match” without a doubt.

That Nitish could harvest such a big mandate virtually decimating the opposition despite helming Bihar for as long as 20 years, must be inspirational even for Modi. Modi can hope to win again in 2029, beating incumbency a la Nitish.

NDA coalition dynamics at the Centre will change

The JD (U) will definitely get more weightage at the Centre after retaining Bihar so spectacularly. It appeared directionless and leaderless for months spawning reports of the BJP eventually breaking it up despite its stellar role in propping up the BJP after the last parliamentary elections.

The Bihar victory will put an end to all the speculation which showed Nitish’s party in very poor light; it will restore the JD (U)’s self-esteem and confidence making it more assertive both in Delhi and Patna. Those who were writing the JD (U)’s and Nitish’s obituary will rue their words.

The vulnerability of the JD (U) and Nitish is now over. Even the all-powerful BJP, helmed by larger-than-life personalities like Modi and Shah, can’t take them for granted after the Bihar verdict. Full marks to Nitish for killing two birds – the BJP and the Mahagathbandhan – with one stone, underlining his prowess as politician and strategist.

BJP’s decision to ratify Nitish as CM didn’t matter

Today, despite the NDA victory, the BJP is on the backfoot in politically and electorally significant Bihar. The BJP refused to declare Nitish the NDA’s CM face. Its stubbornness didn’t go down well in the state which revers him as “Sushasan Babu”, or provider of good governance.

The magnitude of the NDA’s victory shows that Biharis at large decided to force the BJP’s hand by ratifying and endorsing Nitish’s rule so overwhelmingly that it would be well-nigh impossible to appoint anyone else as the CM. In that sense, Nitish has achieved what no other non-BJP NDA CM has so far and is unlikely to in the foreseeable future.

(SNM Abdi is an independent journalist specialising in India’s foreign policy and domestic politics.)

Views are personal, and do not represent the stance of this publication.