Patna: As Bihar heads toward its high-stakes 2025 Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has revived its tried-and-tested strategy: leverage cultural icons to bridge ideology and emotion. The latest recruit is folk sensation Maithili Thakur—25 years old, five million YouTube subscribers, a devotional voice praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Ayodhya Pran Pratishtha, and now the BJP candidate from Alinagar in Darbhanga. Her rise from Benipatti in Madhubani to global digital stardom makes her the perfect face of “cultural pride.” But her induction isn’t just about representation—it’s…
Read MoreFrom Bhajans to Ballots: The BJP’s Cultural Gamble with Maithili Thakur
