As Tejashwi Yadav Tries To Spin 'Jungle Raj' Narrative, NDA Fails To Confront Changing Ground Reality

Tejashwi Yadav, leader of the opposition in Bihar, has released a crime bulletin on his social platform X. In this list, details of 87 crimes are provided. According to Tejashwi, all the crimes took place within the last three to four days from the date of publication.

Interestingly, the list began with the news of the murder of two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Siwan and Patna, respectively. 

Sharing the list, Tejashwi asked the public, “Did you hear Nitish Kumar speaking on record-breaking crime, uncontrolled corruption and hundreds of dead bodies falling every day and collapsing bridges in Bihar? Will you not even listen?”

Crime Bulletins

Notably, this is not the first time that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) stalwart has released such a list.

A week ago, he put out a list of 42 crimes, beginning with the killing of a Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) leader in Bettiah. Before that, on 29 July, came a list of 53 crimes that had occurred in the preceding few days. It was the second list in July, after Tejashwi released a list of 40 crimes on 16 July, which, in turn, followed one released towards the end of June.

In all the X posts, Yadav categorically blamed the BJP, Nitish Kumar, and the "double engine" governance model of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The sincerity and regularity with which these posts are coming up indicate that Yadav is planning something significant around this issue.

Nothing else explains Lalu Yadav's voicing his concern too. It is widely believed that the senior Yadav prefers to offer silent support to Tejashwi on any matter. Lalu's speaking out only means that RJD wants to galvanise its old support base.

The crime releases are also significant because the drama around special category status for Bihar has died down after this year’s Union budget.

NDA's Response

Given the gravity of the allegations, the NDA should have come out with a measured and thoughtful response. However, their response can, at best, be described as cliche.

Giriraj Singh, senior BJP leader and Member of Parliament from Begusarai, raised the issue of 'Jungle Raj' under the RJD and said a thief should not speak against theft.

Nitin Naveen, head of the Buxar unit of the BJP and Urban Development Minister in the Bihar government, said people have not forgotten how they lived in fear between 1990 and 2005.

He added that criminals like Mohammed Shahabuddin used to be protected by the Yadav family, as they used to run the government. In addition, Naveen accused RJD and the Lalu Yadav family of engaging in caste-based genocide.

Jama Khan, JD(U) leader and Minority Affairs Minister in the Bihar government, said Tejashwi has nothing to do except sit at home and use his mobile phone.

These counterpoints are factually grounded but are also slowly losing ground.

The Jungle Raj issue has been the focus of the NDA's attacks on the RJD since 2005. In every election, even as recently as the general election of 2024, the NDA reminded people that voting for RJD would mean the return of Jungle Raj.

Young Bihar

This line of attack has worked in the past, as most people of voting age have either seen this raj directly or heard stories about it from someone close to them.

But things are changing thick and fast. Bihar is young! Even in 2036, the state's median age won’t cross 30.

What this means is that most Biharis in the voting age group were not even born during the Jungle Raj. They do not have firsthand experience of the system in which state power was controlled by hooligans. That translates to more and more voters not resonating with the NDA’s invocation of the Jungle Raj.

The relative success of the Indian National Democratic Inclusive (INDI) Alliance in the 2024 general election under Tejashwi’s leadership should read like a writing on the wall for the NDA.

A vast section of Bihar's youth, most of them under 25 years of age, have also been okay with Yadav taking credit for job creation. 

Moreover, the digital media consumed by youth is full of shows glorifying and glamorising the villains of the Jungle Raj era in Bihar politics. The representation of strongman Shahabuddin and Rabri Devi’s chief ministership in the online space is nowhere close to reality. The youth are being influenced by these shows, including the many YouTube videos glorifying the gory Jungle Raj.

Tejashwi’s yatras are further complicating matters for the NDA. During his last ‘Jan Vishwas Yatra’ in the run-up to this year's Lok Sabha election, he repeatedly pitched himself over Nitish Kumar for job creation.

Now that he is planning another yatra, it won't be a stretch to say that Tejashwi will use his crime bulletin as an attempt to undo the damage inflicted by the NDA's regular reminder of the Jungle Raj.

Tejashwi’s long-term goal is likely to change the narrative by establishing that the NDA has fared worse than the RJD.

One might even expect him to create a decentralised database and meet victims’ families during his yatra in every district. This idea is out of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s playbook, when he used to take the name of kidnapped kids in his election rallies during the Jungle Raj.

The NDA might have to chalk up a good response now. They need to begin taking control of the narrative, and the best way to do that is by controlling crime. That will be the most effective way to derail Tejashwi Yadav’s strategy.