Patna / Delhi: The battle for Bihar has begun. Every political party is rolling out manifestos, slogans, and promises to woo voters. Campaign caravans are on the move, speeches are heating up stages, but amidst all this political noise, the voice of the people’s real issues is missing. The drumbeats of democracy have drowned out the cries of Bihar’s core concerns — poverty, unemployment, crime, and social backwardness. In a state where these problems remain stark realities, their absence from the electoral debate is not only ironic but alarming.
Missing the Real Agenda
The biggest question today is — why are Bihar’s elections running away from the very issues that shape people’s daily lives? Why have matters like prohibition, unemployment, women’s safety, education, health, and law and order vanished from the political agenda?
Take the case of prohibition — once a defining social and moral issue in Bihar’s politics. It was meant to bring social stability and moral reform, yet its implementation has created new problems: corruption, illegal liquor trade, and police excesses. While the law saved many families from ruin, it also bred injustice. Yet, in the 2025 campaign, most major parties are avoiding the subject. Only a few voices, like independent leader Prashant Kumar, are calling for strict enforcement of total prohibition. The ruling NDA, which once championed the law, now prefers silence — perhaps an admission that the policy’s execution failed to meet expectations.
A Politics of Contradictions
Bihar’s elections have become an arena of contradictions. Politicians speak of ideals but act in self-interest. Their double standards have turned policies into sources of new problems rather than solutions. Promises on education, healthcare, women’s safety, and employment remain dreamlike illusions. Even after 78 years of independence, Bihar’s democracy still struggles with hypocrisy, moral fatigue, and broken governance.
As the saying goes — “Earlier, leaders went to jail for freedom; now, power sends them to jail.” The moral compass of politics has inverted. Once, leaders commanded reverence; today, they evoke embarrassment. Bihar’s political culture has become a mirror of this decay — tolerant to a fault, yet simmering beneath the surface.
Unemployment: Bihar’s Deepest Wound
The job crisis continues to haunt the state. Lakhs of youth remain unemployed, forced to migrate to other states in search of work. Each election season brings lofty job promises, but no structural plans. There is no long-term strategy for skill development or employment generation. Bihar’s youth, who should be driving growth, find themselves disillusioned and directionless.
Women’s Safety and Lawlessness
Equally grave is the state of women’s safety and crime. Incidents of violence against women have risen sharply. Land disputes, extortion, and the nexus between criminals and politics continue unabated. Yet, political parties avoid these topics — unwilling to expose governance failures. Their silence reflects the erosion of sensitivity in pursuit of power.
Caste Over Cause
Caste arithmetic and appeasement politics still dominate Bihar’s elections. From candidate selection to campaign strategy, everything revolves around vote-bank equations rather than public welfare. Development remains a slogan, not a reality. In villages, roads crumble, hospitals lack doctors, schools remain understaffed, and corruption infects governance at every level.
When leaders spend more time trading accusations than discussing policies, it’s only natural for public trust to weaken. The disconnect between politics and people has never been more visible.
The Need for Politics of Policy, Not Power
Bihar needs leadership that treats elections as a platform for public welfare, not power play. Issues like prohibition, employment, women’s safety, education, and healthcare are the soul of Bihar’s progress. Ignoring them means pushing the state further into darkness. Development is not about building roads or bridges alone — it is about ensuring human development, where every individual lives with dignity, safety, and opportunity.
The people of Bihar are no longer swayed by slogans; they seek results. The 2025 elections must force politicians to introspect — has politics lost its moral compass? When speeches are empty of issues that truly matter, democracy begins to corrode.
The way forward lies in courage — the courage to return to real issues, to policy over populism, and to principle over power. Unless that happens, the Bihar elections will once again become a celebration of faces and alliances, not of the people’s aspirations.
Bihar doesn’t need slogans anymore. It needs substance, sincerity, and the courage to talk about real issues. Only then can politics rediscover its lost purpose — serving the people.
