George Fernandes played a historic role in BJP's growth in Bihar
Lalu Yadav's Fodder Scam gave BJP a good issue to work in the state - notorious for caste politics
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| Goerge Fernandes: |
New BJP chief minister Samrat Chaudhary's future challenge will be to take the stateforward by striking a right balance between the idiom of ‘Samajwaad’ (socialism) and ‘Sanghwaad’ (or Hindutva).
Without George Fernandes, BJP's journey in Bihar would have been different.
In 1994, George left Janata Dal after differences with Lalu Yadav and formed Samata Party -- essentially based in Bihar. Nitish Kumar was his lieutenant and a key strategist then.
The Samata Party allied with the BJP and that laid the foundation of forming of NDA in 1996. No doubt, George was made the convener with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the face of the NDA.
In 1996 and 1998 elections, George won from Nalanda as Samata Party candidate. Samata Party merged with Janata Dal (United) and he won again from Nalanda in 1999. He was Defence Minister under Vajpayee.
In 2004 he won from Muzaffarpur. In 2009 he was denied ticket by JD-U leader Nitish Kumar. George contested from Muzaffarpur as an independent and lost.
Later he was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2009 on JD-U ticket.
At a later stage, he was afflicted for many years with Alzheimer's and died in January 2019.
Pointers:
Samrat Choudhary began his career in 1999 with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and quickly rose through the ranks. In 2000, he was elected as an MLA from Parbatta in Khagaria and became a minister in the government led by Rabri Devi.
Choudhary’s career has been shaped by key political shifts. After years in the RJD, he joined the Janata Dal (United) in 2014 and served as a minister in the government headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi.
In 2017, he moved to the BJP, where his rise was rapid.
Hindutva alone 'never' a very good currency for BJP in Bihar
Bihar's political dynamics have some peculiarities. The Hindutva card made sense. L K Advani's arrest was orchestrated by Lalu Prasad in Bihar itself. But yet people spoke about "new NDA" experience in the state.
The BJP realised that the Hindutva had limitations and hence it focused on “bijli, sadak, paani”.
In other states where the BJP has been a growing entity, the 'Hindutva' added a special cultural layer to the “development” card.
But double engine in Bihar meant a strong masculine the Narendra Modi-led regime in Delhi; but a Su-sashan man Nitish Kumar-led state government.
Voters also underlined that things are different in Bihar.
Asked if there were Hindu-Muslim fissures; many Biharis would ay "There is nothing like that". They would explain Bihar loved Hindutva issues and had craze for Narendra Modi but when it comes to assembly elections - it would mean 'different' from both Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
The Caste was the game and that is why the protagonist of MY (Muslim and Yadav combo) kept Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi in power for a longer spell than Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh.
But while the BJP could not ensure greater penetration, Nitish Kumar had succeeded and thus remained in power for 21 years at a stretch.
Nitish has been largely with the BJP as the ally but at times he did good political business with the RJD. So much helpless used to be BJP often as it could not break the alliance when Nitish Kumar 'insulted' the Lotus party's central leaders and cancelled the dinner just because Narendra Modi's poster came out in some parts of Patna.
It was easy for everyone to see. Even Late Ram Vilas Paswan benefitted in 2014 for LJP-BJP alliance in Bihar.
Paswan himself used to say that the rise of the BJP and the NDA also "meant the rise of Hindutva" in Uttar Pradesh. But Bihar's dynamism was different.
BJP needed the same Hindutva and 'different synthesis' for growth in West Bengal and Assam. But the NDA could not have an aggressive and pronounced Hindutva component in Bihar as well as a few southern states.
Paswan reportedly told Rajnath Singh, the then BJP president that the caste combinations matters more than religion in Bihar. But bread-and-butter issues were critical components nevertheless.
In Bihar even Caste is linked to bravado or a pride factor. Caste was only the Focus of the welfare measures intended to help each caste groups especially formidable Yadavs, Dalits and Kushwa and a few others.
Not surprisingly, even Paswan-led LJP always had limitations for a pan-state level growth.
So Paswan also never became Bihar CM unlike Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh.
There was "qualitatively organic-level" different approach for the BJP from the Sangh Parivar’s mobilisation of deprived caste and tribes perspective as well. I traveled in Bihar during November 2005 assembly elections.
I have been there later as well.
But visits around 2022 and during election time in 2025 brought out interesting anecdotes chiefly from socio-political studies. In villages and small towns; people belonging to caste groups with the NDA — Dalits, EBCs, Other Backward Classes (OBCs), or the upper castes — talked about the Double Engine governments.
Everyone lauded the “transformation” of Bihar in terms of roads, power supply, flyovers and chiefly the law and order.
During Lalu's stint, extortion had become like a cottage industry and sheer Goondaism a new normal.
In 2020, many among the most deprived castes, such as the Musahars, cited free grain and the transfer of Rs 10,000 in the accounts of women as part of the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana as major factors for making electoral choice.
Nitish also played his part.
Be it the EBCs, a category created in the late 1970s by Karpoori Thakur but nurtured by Nitish Kumar, or the Mahadalits, material upliftment defined the political journey of the voters.
"Caste has been primarily mobilised under Nitish as a medium through which the state claims to empower," explained a political analyst.
Other factors:
Bihar was 89% rural as per the 2011 Census — the primary concern across castes and religions, and across party lines, was basic development.
In UP, Hindutva mannerism and political rhetoric matters a lot in Ayodhya region as well as Varanasi and Mathura-Vrindavan belt.
But the only region in Bihar where the Hindutva appears normal but key factor in casual conversations is Seemanchal, where large Muslim populations co-exist with Hindu settlements.
It's true unlike Bihar no other state has traversed the long arc of India’s democratic journey.
Mahatma Gandhi started the Champaran satyagraha here.
Post-independence Karpoori Thakur played his governance cards with castes. Jayaprakash Narayan led the fight against Emergency.
Lalu Prasad Yadav did caste consolidation.
The vote bank of Muslims and Yadavs (MY) heralded a new type of revolution in the corridors of power.
Nitish Kumar fought Jungle Raj left by Rabri Dev-Lalu duo and there was coalition politics of BJP.
Back to the Future ... from April 15-16, 2026 (when Samrat Chaudhary) will lead the charge with the blessings of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
The RSS will have another good reason to smile.
ends
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