Bihar's Shocked Opposition, Goes into Hibernation

For now, the opposition in Bihar has retreated into inactivity. It is cold and dry after two consecutive drubbings in the Assembly elections, 2020 and 2025. The Mahagathbandhan parties are so shocked by the Assembly results that they have gone into a hibernation to save themselves from the dry cold.

The Nitish government has begun the new term with bulldozing the homes of poor Biharis, where owning a home is a privilege, and still, there are lakhs of people in the state who do have even a small patch of land to raise roofs on their heads, in the name of encroachments.

The claim of reclaiming the encroached government lands sounds hollow as there are several buildings in the centre of Patna which are built on grabbed lands. Since these grabbers enjoy political clout, they run their show with leg and hindrance.

But the most surprising is that the party of ‘garib gurba’ RJD is mum over this bulldozer drive. Even Prashant Kishor of the Jan Suraaj party is not on the Patna streets to shout for justice for the victims. They have been left to fend for themselves.

Except the CPIML stirring themselves out and sloganeering on the streets for justice for the victims, there has been no reaction from any major parties of the Mahagathbandhan against the government driving the poor victims out of their homes.

Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha presiding over the Revenue and Land Reforms Ministry is getting brownie points by exposing corruption and efficiency in the department, but neither RJD nor Prashant Kishor is picking on it. The electoral stroke has paralysed them all for the moment.

The extent of their defeat in the 2010 Assembly election was more severe but they had taken it as part of the game and matched ahead. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad had organised a press conference on the result day itself to accept the defeat and to assert to keep the flag flying in the coming days.

But the 2025 defeat stunned them into silence. Mahagathbadhan chief minister face Tejashwi Yadav was so shocked and saddened by the defeat that he avoided interface with the media and reacted to the sweeping defeat on his X handle. Having remained confined to his house for days together, he went on a tour with his wife to celebrate New year, after attending the inaugural session of the House.

The government has ousted former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi from her 20 years old official residence, 10 Circular Road. It gave a political message to the Mahagathbandhan alliance that the NDA would not rest with their victory and continue to dynamite them to smithereens.

The vacated Rabri Devi’s bungalow had been a hub of political activity for the Mahagathbandhan parties to huddle together and chalk out their political strategies.  Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, CPI national secretary D. Raja and CPML head Deepankar Bhattacharya used to gather there for brainstorming. Though Congress headquarters Sadaquat Ashram historically has more value but it has never been a centre for the Magathbandhan to meet and strategise against the NDA.

Instead of targeting the government over the demolition of the homes of indigent people in this biting cold on the pretext of removal of the environments, opposition leaders are engaged in apportioning the blame for their defeat. Former leader of the Congress Legislative party Shakeel Amed Khan has advised his party to part company with RJD as there is no hope of coming back to power under its leadership.

A section of the Mahagathbandhan feel that a large chunk of the voters rallied around the NDA alliance following the announcement of Tejashwi Yadav as the CM face and Mukesh Sahni as his deputy face.  Lalu Prasad has down the names of his son and Sahni on the alliance partners

The Mahagathbandhan parties are unnecessarily demoralised over their small winning numbers. Their vote share has seen erosion of less than one percent from the 2020 figures. It means that people are still with them. Several alliance partners of the RJD are holding the flagship party and the better election management by the NDA equally responsible for their defeat.

There is a possibility that the Mahagathbandhan alliance partners may come together on a new platform leaving out the RJD to start agitating against the government policies in the new year.