Bihar has finally broken out of its regressive cycle of backwardness. Four fifth majority to an incumbent NDA government on the plank of development is a trend setter and is also full of hope. Some have called that Bihar has entered the age of renaissance. Nitish Kumar is much taller now. He deserves all accolades. We has seen what he has delivered on the ground in terms of roads and law and order. Now the time has come for him to work for electricity. A friend called amid counting of votes with suggestion to buy land near Patna as software companies would start locating there to cut their costs (I do not have that much of money to buy land, given the kind of hand to mouth living that I have). Many commented that Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other states' land lords may find difficult to get Bihari labourers, with one colleague stating that this is already being witnessed in Punjab. It's a beginning of a journey of hope and Nitish Kumar has been charged with the task to leap-frog Bihar into front ranking states in the next five years.
There was never a doubt that Nitish would come back to power. My estimate was that NDA would cross the 150 mark, which I had later revised to 170 but had never thought that it would cross 200. Such a decimation of opposition has not been seen in any of the state in India. It has no parallel. The dread of Lalu Yadav must have made the people to turn out much stronger to reject him, thus helping the NDA more strongly.
Lalu and Paswan never stood any chance. But the way the Congress contested the polls is open for review. Such a large party could have fought such an important election in such a manner was quite idiotic. The Central ministers parachuting to charge that the Centre gave so much of money and not much of them was spent must be taken up by the Election Commission for abuse of power by the ruling party at the Centre. The transfer of funds to the states is anyways a statutory provision and not just a prerogative of the ruling party at the Centre. The decimation of the Congress was a fitting reply by the people to the joke of the Congress. A Congress state leader who had earlier contested the poll told this author that the party gave Rs 35 lakhs to each of its 243 candidates, with some pegging that party having spent to the tune of Rs 200 crores in Bihar elections. This seems believable given the way all resources that the party had put in use in the state. If Congress goes this way only, UP in 2012 could give it another shiver down its spine.
Jobs have begun being created in the state. People there are much more informed. The state has real resources to make an economic turnaround. It is also blessed with immense human resources, with a large number of them educated and energetic. Nitish has to keep to the basics and rest will follow. He has given roads. He has to give reliable supply of power. And also he has to convince the banks to give loans to people who can take up enterprises, which they have been avoiding. Bihar figures at the bottom of the list on the banks disbursing its deposits to the people as loan. This has to go up. Nitish needs to talks to the RBI. Also, without rushing in to invite the big business honchos it would be more prudent to revive the jute, silk, sugar industries which have deep roots in the state but were killed over the time.
Millions of people in Bihar and outside wihsh Nitish that he further delivers on the promises. The hope must translate into reality. This can be done, as it's not a big asking.
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