With Samrat Choudhary as the next CM, the Bihar story is for the BJP to write

The elevation of Samrat Choudhary as Bihar’s next chief minister is no ordinary passing of the baton. It marks a moment of rupture and transition in a state that has nurtured political movements that rippled nationally. That Nitish Kumar has stepped down only months after an assembly victory won in his name, and that Choudhary will take charge as the BJP’s first ever chief minister in this heartland state, is a shifting of political plates. Of course, it wasn’t unexpected — even though the 2025 assembly verdict favoured the incumbent, the winds of change have been building in Bihar. Nearly two decades of Nitish rule restored the state authority that had waned under Lalu Prasad’s stewardship, but the Nitish model of governance had also sputtered and plateaued. Parallelly, it was visible that the BJP was becoming more politically sure-footed. From riding piggyback on the JD(U) and playing second fiddle to it, the party of Mandir was steadily moving into spaces vacated by the forces of Mandal that had steered Bihar since the 1990s. The denouement now, then, could have been foretold. And yet, as the Bihar story moves into a new chapter, it is a moment to pause, to take a measure of the new possibilities — and the concerns and challenges.

The BJP will need to take the next steps of reform that have been long overdue in Bihar. While it improved law and order and built roads, and even as it made progress in education and expanding the welfare net, the Nitish government turned a blind eye to the urgent challenges of urbanisation and the related task of creating hospitable spaces for industrial investment, the absence of which continues to compel Bihar’s young to leave the state. At the same time, it will also be the responsibility of the new BJP-led government to ensure that the gains made by the politics of “social justice” are not lost. Nitish’s unique contribution was his ability to be a bridge in a caste coalition of extremes, and to instil confidence in the minority community that they would be heard and represented. As he steps into Nitish’s shoes, Choudhary must not lose sight of Nitish’s USP.

While the choice of an OBC leader as CM sends an important signal of continuity, the BJP will need to ensure that it doesn’t become tokenistic. It must recognise, too, that keeping the communal peace in Bihar is part of the mandate it has inherited. The BJP’s Hindutva has had less of a polarising edge in Bihar. What may have been a strategic choice must, going ahead, be owned as politics and policy. Bihar needs a successor to Nitish who walks in his own shoes but takes Nitish’s strides forward.