TEJASHWI'S CROSS TO BEAR

The RJD scion is trying to set a new political narrative for his party and the state, but the JD(U)-BJP alliance will not let him live down memories of Lalu raj

- Amitabh Srivastava

On September 25, the Election Commission announced a three­ phase assembly election for Bihar starting October 28. The same day, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also met the press where he reiter­ ated that the NDA’s poll strategy rested on 15 years of his rule against the 15 preceding years when Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) were in power. “Hamara pandrah saal ka kaam dekh lijiye (see our work of the last 15 years). The new generation has not seen the miseries of the past (read: the RJD’s tenure). Shaam hone ke baad koi ghar se bahar nahin nikal sakta tha (You couldn’t step out of your house after evening),” said the chief minister.

From the thriving kidnapping industry to the bad roads and electricity supply to the dominance of a single caste, the Nitish­led NDA has been going on about the ‘failures’ of the RJD government. The idea, of course, is not just to discredit the opposition but also to bolster Bihar’s very own TINA (there is no alternative) narrative.