Nitish Kumar has a degree in electrical engineering, a profession that he never pursued. Instead, over four decades of electoral politics, he has mastered political engineering, earning him the rare distinction of being one of the longest serving Chief Ministers of Bihar. On Wednesday, he took oath as Chief Minister for the eighth time. On six occasions, it was with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and twice, including the latest stint, with the support of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Politics was not a natural choice of career for him. When he left his home in Bakhtiyarpur for higher education in Patna in 1966, the aim was to get a well-paying and stable job. It was Ram Manohar Lohia’s acerbic writing that ensnared Mr. Kumar. If Lohia’s words seduced him into politics, Jai Prakash Narayan’s call for “total revolution” gave him a space.
Mr. Kumar, like many present-day politicians, is a child of the JP movement. But unlike many of his peers, he did not immediately hit the limelight. His electoral career began with a defeat. In 1980, after years of hanging around on the margins, he finally got ticket to contest the Bihar elections from Harnaut, his home district of Nalanda. He lost the seat. But it was only the beginning. Even his critics would appreciate Mr. Kumar’s doggedness in the face of defeat. He stayed on in Harnaut, wresting the seat in 1985 by a margin of over 20,000 votes.
