Bihar Elections are round the corner, and the state has become the epicentre of India’s shifting political mood. Once a bastion of the Modi wave, Bihar now reflects the growing disillusionment with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) reliance on rhetoric over results. What is being billed as the “mother of all elections” by the Election Commission could well determine the trajectory of national politics in the coming years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again turned to the familiar playbook – mixing hyper-nationalism with anti-Pakistan sentiment. His fiery speeches following the Pahalgam incident cast Pakistan as an omnipresent threat while portraying the BJP as the sole guardian of India’s sovereignty. Yet, behind the patriotic theatrics lies an uncomfortable truth: Bihar’s governance failures remain unaddressed. From unfulfilled infrastructure projects promised in 2020 to staggering unemployment and deepening poverty, the state’s developmental narrative has been replaced by political diversion.

Despite a capital outlay of 42,000 crore-nearly 14% of its budget-Bihar’s infrastructure remains crumbling. The state has 3.16 crore registered job seekers, but private-sector employment stands at an abysmal 1.9%, compared to the national average of over 11%. Nearly 35% of the population still lives below the poverty line, and 88% of its people reside in rural areas that have seen little improvement.........

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