This time the people of Bihar have given their vote to the duo of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar in the hope that the state government will do what was considered impossible till now: creating employment through industrialization and stopping migration.
There is no alternative to development work done in public interest. In a democracy, a leader may be a dynamic speaker, someone may have the amazing art of communicating directly with the public, someone may get an overwhelming majority to form the government, but if one has to play a long innings in the electoral field, then concrete steps will have to be taken to improve the standard of living of the common people. The leader to whom the people hand over power by giving them majority in elections, should understand this. In fact, when a perception is formed among the public that despite getting the top post of power, a leader gives priority to the work of public interest rather than personal interest, then he gets its benefits for a long time. In recent years, if any leader has completely assimilated this formula in his political life, it is Nitish Kumar. Nitish’s leadership has made an important contribution in the way the voters of the state once again handed over power to the Nitish-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with an overwhelming majority in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections. If there is no wave in the elections against a Chief Minister despite being in power for twenty years, then the biggest reason could be that the public has approved the development work done by him.
In this election, NDA again made an issue of the poor law and order situation during the fifteen years of rule of Rashtriya Janata Dal led by Lalu Prasad. Forgotten and sensational incidents that happened twenty-twenty-five years ago became headlines on social media. It cannot be said with certainty that it had an impact on the young voters in this election, but it can definitely be said that there is a world of difference between the development that took place during Nitish’s tenure and the development that took place during the rule of his two previous Chief Ministers. The people of Bihar have given this message through the latest election results.
However, economic experts, citing data based on development parameters, say that Bihar is still among the most backward states of the country. But, when the Bihar of today is compared with the Bihar of twenty years ago, it becomes clear that the state has made giant leaps on the parameters of development, be it in the areas of health and education or per capita income.
If Bihar is very backward in any one important sector, it is the sector of industry, which is the root of most of its problems. It is also a bitter truth that the major industrial houses of the country hesitate to invest in Bihar. Once upon a time, it was said that due to lack of proper electricity in Bihar, poor condition of roads, poor law and order and red tape, the corporate world stayed away from Bihar. But, the situation has changed during Nitish’s tenure. Today, electricity is available 22 to 24 hours in remote villages, a network of excellent roads has been laid and law and order is not a matter of concern. New airports have been built in Bihar due to which the issue of connectivity has been resolved.
Despite this, the biggest problem of Bihar is still the lack of employment, which was there during the rule of Lalu Yadav-Rabri Devi and also during the tenure of the previous Congress governments. Due to lack of industries, a large number of youth of Bihar migrate to other states. Prashant Kishore tried to make it the most important issue in this election. Even though he did not get the support of the voters, it cannot be denied that the Nitish government will have to seriously find a solution to this issue.
Bihar cannot have all-round development and migration cannot stop unless there is industrial development there. This should be the biggest priority of the new term of the NDA government in Bihar. In the next five years, the double engine government of Janata Dal-United and BJP should make every possible effort for the industrialization of Bihar. The government will also have to inspire confidence in big corporate houses to set up big industries there. Bihar has moved beyond the ‘Bimaru’ phase of backwardness and only through industrialization can its development get a new impetus. This time, the people of Bihar have given their vote to the duo of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar with the hope that during the next five-year tenure, the state government will do for Bihar what was considered impossible till now: creating employment through industrialization and stopping migration.