The Shifting Sands of Bihar: Tejashwi Yadav's Bold Bet on Change

A palpable confidence, almost an audacious certainty, now emanates from RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. Following the initial phase of Bihar's assembly elections, one could sense his conviction as he declared that the people, yes, the very soul of Bihar, have undeniably cast their ballots for a monumental shift. And, honestly, he believes they’re just getting started; the same spirit, he assures us, will echo through the polling booths on November 11.

For Yadav, this election isn't merely about winning seats; it's a visceral referendum against what he passionately terms the '15 years of misrule' by the current administration, headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He paints a stark picture of a state languishing, a populace yearning for something, anything, fundamentally different from the status quo. It’s a critique that feels less like a political slogan and more like a deeply held grievance.

The so-called 'double engine government'—that familiar phrase referring to BJP and JD(U) at both state and center—has, in Yadav’s view, spectacularly derailed. On the crucial tracks of employment, of migration, of the foundational pillars of education and health, this powerful twin engine, he argues, has simply sputtered and died. You see it in the eyes of the youth, perhaps the most potent demographic this election, who, he suggests, are seething with frustration. They want jobs, tangible opportunities, not just rhetoric. And Tejashwi, for his part, has placed a colossal promise on the table: ten lakh government jobs, a pledge that reverberates loudly across the state's restless younger generation.

But the criticisms don’t stop there. Yadav doesn’t shy away from personalizing his attacks, suggesting that Nitish Kumar, after all these years, just looks… tired. Worn out. Unfit, perhaps, to steer the ship of state any longer. And when it comes to the national stage, he finds it curious, honestly, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign speeches seem fixated solely on the RJD and Tejashwi himself, almost entirely sidestepping any mention of the government's developmental achievements. It's a telling silence, isn't it?

In fact, Yadav interprets the extensive campaigning by BJP leaders—their visible desperation, you could say—as a clear sign of impending defeat. He’s even thrown down a gauntlet, daring both the Prime Minister and Chief Minister Kumar to engage in an open discussion on the very real issues plaguing Bihar: employment, grinding poverty, the constant, heartbreaking specter of migration, and the stark lack of industrial growth. Because, as he pointedly reminds us, this 'double engine' utterly failed to stem the tide of migrant workers during the lockdown, leaving countless Biharis stranded and vulnerable. It was a failure, a truly profound one, that lingers in the collective memory. And perhaps, just perhaps, it's that memory that will define the outcome on November 11.