Bihar Election: Battle of Manifestos- A Closer Look at Promises, Accountability, and Reality
From Our Correspondent
Patna: With Bihar’s assembly elections looming on November 6 and 11, the NDA’s Sankalp Patra, hurriedly released on October 31, and the INDIA bloc’s Bihar Ka Tejashwi Pran, launched on October 28, are not just election documents; they are a referendum on two decades of NDA rule. For 12 crore Biharis grappling with 13 percent unemployment, mass youth exodus, soaring prices, broken roads, and women’s safety, these manifestos expose a stark truth: while the INDIA bloc confronts the pain of jobless youth and struggling ma-behen head-on, the NDA, ruling Bihar for over 20 years, seems desperate to evade scrutiny of its failures.
The launch itself told the story. The INDIA bloc threw open its doors with a two-hour marathon press conference in Patna, where Tejashwi Yadav, flanked by Congress, VIP, and CPI(ML) allies, dissected every promise, from one job per family to scrapping the failed liquor ban for toddy, restoring the Old Pension Scheme, and a 2,500-rupee monthly stipend for women. He took questions, exposed the NDA’s 20 years of betrayal, and vowed to pass the job law in 20 days. It was transparent, combative, and accountable, a leader facing the people. In stark contrast stood the NDA’s 26-second farce, where Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary mumbled a handover while Nitish Kumar sat stone-faced beside JP Nadda and Chirag Paswan. There was no vision, no explanation, no Q&A, just a photo-op and a sprint out the door. Tejashwi called it the Sorry Patra, a confession of guilt for 19 lakh jobs promised in 2020 and zero delivered; Congress branded it a string of lies born of fear. After 20 years in power, the NDA’s rush reeks of cowardice, earning a mere 1 out of 10 for courage, while INDIA scores a perfect 10 for standing tall.
Jobs remain the youth’s holy grail, with lakhs fleeing annually to Delhi’s factories because unemployment is not a statistic but a family crisis. The NDA vows one crore government jobs via a skills census, mega skill hubs in every district, 10 industrial parks, and 50,000 crore rupees in investments, aiming to turn Bihar into a global skilling centre. Yet this is the same alliance that in 2020 pledged 19 lakh jobs and delivered not one, recycling Modi’s national two-crore-job mirage while Bihar’s four-crore-strong workforce waits in vain. The INDIA bloc counters with a bolder pledge of one government job per family within 20 days, regularizing all contractual workers and Jeevika mobilizers at 30,000 rupees monthly, alongside IT parks and SEZs for skill-based private jobs. Tejashwi’s 2020 stint delivered 10 lakh jobs in just 17 months, real jobs, not slogans. The NDA offers inflated dreams with zero credibility after two decades of failure, while INDIA brings proven delivery and urgent action.
Bihar’s women, making up 48 percent of voters, bear the brunt of price rise, unsafe streets, and economic exclusion. The NDA dangles two-lakh-rupee loans for one crore Lakhpati Didis under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, 125 free electricity units, five-lakh-rupee health cover, 50 lakh pucca houses, and pensions, extending national schemes that have already created three crore Didis elsewhere. Loans, however, mean debt, not dignity, and after 20 years, women still beg for credit instead of cash. The INDIA bloc fires back with a 2,500-rupee monthly Mai-Behen stipend amounting to 30,000 rupees yearly, permanent Jeevika jobs with insurance and loan waivers, 25-lakh-rupee family health insurance, 1,500-rupee pensions rising yearly, and 200 free electricity units, alongside ending prohibition to respect toddy-dependent tribal and Muslim communities and suspending the Waqf Act. The NDA wants women to borrow and beg; INDIA wants them to live with respect right now. After 20 years, the NDA’s so-called empowerment looks like a delay tactic.
Price rise crushes kitchens, and floods ravage fields yearly, yet the NDA promises minimum support price for all crops via panchayat procurement, 9,000 rupees annual aid, one-lakh-crore-rupee agri-infra spend, five mega food parks, and pulse self-sufficiency by 2030, bold on paper but missing in action when inflation hit hardest. The INDIA bloc mirrors MSP for all crops, adds mandis everywhere, 3,000-rupee disability pensions, and dairy and fishery boosts tied to agro-SEZs that create jobs. Grand NDA projects like seven expressways, metro in four cities, four international airports, and a Sitamarhi spiritual city have not stopped Bihar from remaining India’s poorest state or the migration capital, because who will use them when youth have no jobs to stay for? The INDIA bloc focuses modestly on five expressways, IT parks, super-specialty hospitals in every district, and 25-lakh-rupee insurance to retain talent and provide urgent care.
The trust test is brutal. The NDA’s 20-year reign boasts some infra gains but is haunted by undelivered 2020 pledges, leaving Bihar the poorest state and migration king, with one crore jobs alone requiring 50,000 crore rupees yearly that simply does not exist in a debt-ridden budget. The INDIA bloc hungers for change, with Tejashwi’s 10 lakh jobs in 17 months standing against the NDA’s zero in 20 years, even if Lalu’s scam-shadow lingers, because failure is earned, not inherited. The NDA’s 26-second sprint was not a launch but a surrender, refusing to face Bihar’s youth and women after two decades in power, hiding behind recycled slogans and photo-ops. The INDIA bloc’s two-hour marathon was a promise of accountability, naming the pain, offering real relief, and daring to deliver.
Bihar’s youth and ma-behen must ask whether they will reward 20 years of evasion with another vote or demand jobs, cash, and respect now. This election is not about patras but about who fights for the people and who runs away. Choose the marathon. Reject the sprint.
