Nitish Kumar’s 2025 Test: Can The Engineer Chief Minister Reinvent Himself Again?

As Bihar has chugged into campaign mode ahead of the November 2025 Assembly elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar once again finds himself at the centre of the state’s political stage. Leading the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Kumar remains both the coalition’s strongest face and its most polarising figure, the leader carrying the dual weight of incumbency and expectation. Recent opinion polls suggest a razor-thin contest, with the NDA polling around 41.3 per cent against 39.7 per cent for the opposition Mahagathbandhan. For Kumar, the road to another term depends on whether his appeal for continuity and governance can outweigh public fatigue with his long tenure.

His advantage lies in his stronghold over upper-caste and non-Yadav vote clusters, visible improvements in infrastructure, and the BJP-led Centre’s support, which has helped Bihar access resources and welfare funds. Yet, beneath the numbers lies a larger story, one that of Nitish Kumar, the engineer socialist, whose political journey from a small-town technocrat to a nine-time Chief Minister mirrors Bihar’s own transformation.

Early Years, JP Movement

Nitish Kumar, who has dominated Bihar’s politics for close to three decades, was born in a modest Kurmi family in Bakhtiyarpur, near Patna, on March 1, 1951. His father, Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh, was a freedom fighter and Ayurvedic practitioner whose principles deeply shaped Kumar’s worldview. After completing a degree in electrical engineering from the Bihar College of Engineering (now NIT Patna), he worked briefly with the Bihar State Electricity Board. But politics, with its promise of reform and social change, soon called. His entry into public life was fuelled by idealism and the wave of political activism that swept through Bihar in the 1970s.

His political awakening came during the Jayaprakash Narayan-led JP Movement of 1974–75. The anti-Emergency struggle became his training ground, where he gained a reputation for discipline and grassroots mobilisation. Like many of his contemporaries, he was jailed for protesting against Indira Gandhi’s government.

Kumar first contested the 1977 Assembly election from Harnaut on a Janata Party ticket but lost. He returned in 1985 to win the same seat, marking his entry into the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Four years later, he moved to national politics, winning the Lok Sabha election from Barh in 1989. Known for his administrative clarity and pragmatism, he became a close associate of George Fernandes. In 1994, the two founded the Samata Party after breaking away from the Janata Dal, laying the groundwork for Kumar’s long and often uneasy partnership with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Taking The Route To Delhi

Kumar’s years in New Delhi during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government (1998–2004) were instrumental in shaping his reputation as a technocrat and clean administrator. He held several key portfolios, including Railways, Surface Transport, and Agriculture. As Railway Minister, he was credited with initiating reforms to improve passenger safety and punctuality, while his later stint saw the introduction of internet-based ticketing and expansion of train connectivity to underserved regions. 

In the agriculture and transport ministries, he focused on improving rural infrastructure and farm credit systems. His administrative acumen and emphasis on accountability distinguished him in a political era often defined by patronage and populism.

Back To Bihar

Nitish Kumar’s defining political chapter began in March 2000, when he was sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time. That stint lasted just seven days, as he failed to prove a majority in the Assembly. Five years later, in November 2005, he returned to power after the JD(U)-BJP alliance defeated the RJD, ending fifteen years of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s rule.

As Chief Minister, Kumar pursued an ambitious governance agenda. His focus on law and order, roads, girls’ education, and women’s empowerment marked a clear break from Bihar’s past image of misrule. Initiatives such as expanding school enrolment, enforcing prohibition, and introducing 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats earned him the sobriquet Sushasan Babu, Mr Good Governance. His 2010 re-election cemented his image as a reformer who balanced efficiency with political acumen.

Kumar’s career, however, has been equally defined by his political flexibility or, as critics put it, opportunism. He broke with the BJP in 2013 over Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial projection, then forged the Mahagathbandhan with the RJD and Congress in 2015, returning to power with a sweeping mandate. In 2017, he abruptly resigned, only to rejoin the NDA within 24 hours. In 2022, he again left the BJP to align once more with the RJD and Congress.

By early 2024, Kumar had returned to the NDA fold, becoming Chief Minister for a record ninth time. His frequent realignments, while controversial, underline his political instinct for survival and his grasp of Bihar’s coalition-driven landscape.

Over nearly two decades in power, Kumar has overseen a visible transformation of Bihar’s governance. His emphasis on infrastructure, prohibition, women’s reservation, and rural electrification has left a lasting mark. Yet, as the 2025 elections near, he faces perhaps his toughest test. Unemployment, migration, and voter fatigue threaten to erode his goodwill, while his shifting alliances raise questions about consistency.

Even so, Nitish Kumar remains one of India’s most enduring political survivors, a leader who has repeatedly reinvented himself in a state defined by shifting loyalties and sharp social divides. His journey, from a young socialist engineer inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan to the architect of Bihar’s administrative turnaround, mirrors the story of modern Bihar itself: complex, resilient, and deeply political.

The 2025 election will determine not only whether he can extend his unprecedented run, but how history will remember him — as a reformer who restored order, or a pragmatist who perfected the art of survival.