‘Tiger abhi zinda hai’: Nitish Kumar roars back, defies anti-incumbency, health concerns

Posters with the slogan ‘Tiger abhi zinda hai’, playing on a hit Bollywood flick title, came up outside the Janata Dal-United party office and said all that needed to be conveyed after the exit polls predicted a clean sweep for the ruling NDA in Bihar. As the leads and results started trickling in on Friday, the NDA partners kept consolidating their position from strength to strength, indicating a sweeping victory for them. The results show that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has staged a remarkable comeback, defying all talk of anti-incumbency and concerns over his health.

JD(U) leader Ranjit Sinha put out the poster that read, “Protector of Dalits, Mahadalits, backward classes, upper castes, and minorities – Tiger abhi zinda hai (The tiger is still alive).”

Nitish has done exceptionally well and successfully defied anti-incumbency after being in power for nearly two decades, even as the opposition aligned in targeting him over health concerns.

Nitish’s clean image of ‘Sushashan babu’ helped

Nitish earned the confidence of voters for transforming Bihar after the Lalu-Rabri era and earned the title of “Sushashan babu” among people and has shown that he continues to command massive support, though he often switched alliance partners to stay in power.

The opposition parties raked up his random incoherent moments to doubt the state of his health and questioned his fitness for retaining a leadership role.

However, Nitish’s personal credibility as an experienced administrator with an unblemished record and no corruption taint worked in his favour.

Pan-castes popularity, massive women support

One of his key strengths has been his ability to win support across castes and religions. Besides, he enjoys significant goodwill among women voters, and the launch of Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana (MMRY) seems to have reinforced their support for him.

However, this time the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also played a significant role in the NDA’s sweeping victory. The two leaders have together vanquished the opposition’s attempts at vote consolidation on caste lines.