Modi Vs Nitish: Will Bihar citizenry filter out the truth or get stuck in the political jumla?

Attuning to a similar fervor explicated by the aforesaid quote, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mesmerised the teeming crowd, hurling words or rather fleshing out his ammos directly targeting the new found Kumar-Yadav duo at the Parivartan Rally in Gaya.

With 4000 security personnel at guard and prominent BJP stalwarts flanking the political juggernaut, the rally in Gaya gave flashes of Modi's efficient oratory and his penchant for words. His tweaked words and phrases, in an attempt at maligning the present chief minister Nitish Kumar gave the media a platter of toothsome acronyms like JDU: Janta ka Daman aur Utpeedan (The oppression and persecution of the people), RJD: Rozana ke jungleraj ka dar.(Fear of the jungle raj)

Amid Modi's quite plausible and rational plans for the state's development, there was a flurry of quips that weren't sagacious enough to expound the truth. Amongst them is the following: Don't give the people who have ruined Bihar in the last 25 years a second chance.

Poring over the statements sounded out by Modi, one would beg to differ from the maverick considering the developmental activities doled out by the Bihar government under the chief ministership of Nitish Kumar.

According to a report released by the ASSOCHAM on Bihar in the year 2013, the state has upped its status considerably despite its "huge disadvantage of the past baggage of laggard development". The statistical record given by the organization pegged the compounded average growth rate at 20 per cent in terms of public investment between March 2003 – March 2013, while Gujarat lagged behind at 14.1 percent.

Further, the report also threw light upon the positive changes pulled in the state owing to the amount of public investment garnered by the state over the period of time. "It is the public investment which is ushering in the growth trajectory in Bihar, where the BJP is the junior partner to its NDA ally with the JD(U) in coalition that rules Bihar," posted the report.

Moreover, economist Swaminathan Aiyar's accreditation of the economic turnaround in Bihar owing to the sound law and order situation under Nitish Kumar in a report in the Mint clearly refutes Narendra Modi's imagery of a destructed Bihar.

Amid the lackluster states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa etc, Modi's hawk eyes are on a trail to register the anomalies prevalent in Bihar. Lashing out at the chief minister of the state, he said that both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh under the leadership of Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chauhan respectively have succeeded in fending off their BIMARU status.

"Bihar has hit the road on its way to economic recovery and among the BIMARU states comprising Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, it has attained the top position in terms of growth rate with an annual GSDP OF 9.3 percent in the year 2013," said ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat.

Taking a step ahead, Economist Jean Dreaze conceded to the improving circumstances in Bihar. He dilated his stand stating that Bihar has considerably cut leakages from the PDS (Public Distribution System) which came down from 90 per cent during 2000's to less than 75 percent in 2011-2012.

"A combination of political will, empowerment on the ground and institutional reforms like issuing coupons to the beneficiaries which made embezzlement difficult for ration sellers have all helped", said Reetika Khera, assistant professor of economics at IIT Delhi (an excerpt from the Mint).

Khera's take on Nitish Kumar's dedication and his relentless efforts on curbing the malpractices prevalent in the state confirms the veracity of the JD(U) leader's potential as the harbinger of development.

"Considering the fact that 53.3 per cent of Bihar population's is below the poverty line, further, the state's manufacturing growth being a meagre 0.4 percent as compared to higher numbers for Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, owing to the lack of private investments in the state, it becomes all the more important for the same to bear a special status", reported the Economic Times report.

A special status would render an enhanced flow of funds into the state along with other brownie points such as freight equalization and increased availability of resources.

With Modi's ostentatious promises reverberating the rally in Gaya, one might have overlooked the fact that it was NDA led central government which had denied a special status to the state like the former governments.

Though, at the very first look, the acronyms might seem quite attractive and bewitching but the suppression and the jungle Raj which Modi is talking of might turn out to be an effective card in solving the electoral riddle. With the amount of support that RJD might garner from its Yadav counterparts and the acumen and deftness wielded by Nitish Kumar, the political union might end up bringing forth favourable changes in the state.

"No party wins elections only on development and Lalu's track record in governance can be compensated if there is an authentic alliance which helps Nitish with Lalu's large social base," said Shaibal Gupta, renowned economist and member secretary of the Asian Development Research Institute based in Patna.

Gupta's take on the political jointure gives an inkling of a balanced concoction wherein majority support with a chunk of prudent developmental policies might end up fetching Bihar the favourable status it has been looking for.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby becomes a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you"- Friedrich Nietzsche

Politics is quite similar to what Friedrich had to say on people fighting monsters. In an attempt at obliterating bad, we often get enchanted by the bad. Similarly, politicians in their efforts at fixing things rights end up taking to vicious practices.

The tussle between the political adversaries will inevitably encapsulate ceaseless episodes of mud slinging, with media houses nibbling on the jargons used by them in the electoral rallies yet to take place. However, the onus lies on the mango man.

Will the citizenry of Bihar filter out the truth or get stuck in the political Jumla (rhetoric) that lies ahead?