Is the change for real? I am talking about Bihar…

With CM Nitish Kumar on the day he took oath

I want to clear one thing at the onset…these are just my personal views, with facts gathered from my contacts and people of Bihar; rectification of any error is welcome.

I have seen him closely, observed him and had opportunities to interact with him when he was not the Chief Minister and later too- and I admire him at many counts.

I saw the advent of this man from the leader of the much publicized failed political outfit called Samata Party to the development man and later the Chief Minister of Bihar and one of the most talked about politicians of the country.

It were the elections of 2005, I covered the elections traveling through several parts of the state in tatters – Patna, Jehanabad, Chapra, Champaran, Nalanda, Arrah etc etc. There was no wave but there was an under current in favour of Nitish Kumar. Results came, Nitish and his alliance made a sweeping victory. He was administered the oath of office of the chief minister of Bihar in presence of the big wigs of NDA at the famous Gandhi Maidan in Patna.

Although I belonged to Bihar, for the first time in my life I came to see the reality of the state when I was covering the elections for the then employer of mine, it was really in shambles, tatters. No jobs, no roads, no development….it was best suited to call Bihar a Banana state. The new leadership brought a wave of hope, hope for a drastic change…and that was the huge task Nitish Kumar was carrying on his shoulder.

He assumed charge, worked, and to be truthful no one can question his personal integrity and his capabilities. But, were the hopes of the people of Bihar fulfilled by the government led by Nitish Kumar.

The development man

One thing one has to admit that the roads in Bihar are now much better. If things on the road front moves at the same pace, Bihar can see a sea change, cause roads matter boss.

The second thing which made it to the headlines was the growth rate of Bihar, which at 11.03 percent was just behind that of Gujarat.

Last but not the least, most of the dreaded dons are hardly to be seen moving in their SUVs and MUVs in the state capital, barring a few, most of them are either cooling their heels in prisons or are cut to size.

These were the three main achievements which one can decipher after talking to people in the state, who are watching it closely, am not saying these are the only achievements, I clear myself again.

The master manager
The kind of sea change in the media coverage of Bihar took place after Nitish Kumar took charge as the Chief Minister speaks a lot, a lot about how the perception was changed about the state before anything changed at the ground in the state. Where Lalu failed, Nitish scored the best. And this helped Nitish a lot in moving ahead of his fellow leaders, his stature grew by the day.

The sea of negative coverage was nowhere to be seen. Not that something was not being reported, the way of reporting changed. This can also be seen as a support to bring in a positive change in the state.

We believe what we see!

On November 24, 2009, on the eve of completion of four years of Nitish government, in a single day advertisements worth Rs 1.15 crore were given in 24 different national as well as regional dailies. Wow…and these are not my figures, it’s a fact which came out after an RTI was filed.

These were to highlight the works done by the state government and were released as "Badalta Bihar" and "Nitish Kumar Ke Chaar Saal".

The state government has spent Rs. 64.48 crores in four years over advertisements, with the Lion’s share being spent in the year 2008-09, a staggering Rs 25.25 Crore.

The counts of failure…

..

To be continued…