Democracy Dies in Broad Daylight in Bihar — And Everyone’s Watching
The blood on the streets of Mokama is a mirror held up to the soul of Bihar’s politics -- cracked, dark, and deliberately ignored. Dularchand Yadav, a gangster-turned-politician, was killed while campaigning for change. Let that sink in: the only way change seems possible in Bihar is when it is endorsed by the very muscle that held it hostage for decades.
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| Representational Image: Aravind Varier |
And the real killing is of hope. Every election, Biharis line up hoping for development, for jobs, for law and order. But what do they get? The same recycled strongmen, different scarves. One year they wear saffron, the next red or green. Only the flag changes -- the mafia remains.
The Crime-Politics Nexus: Bihar’s Incurable Cancer
Why is it that in Bihar, power and violence remain inseparable? Why are politicians still willing to field men with bloodied pasts and bulletproof egos? The answer is ugly but simple -- because it works. Because fear is easier to sell than vision.
Every party is guilty. The BJP-JD(U) alliance -- led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar -- has had over a decade to fix this. Instead, it has institutionalised it. Modi, who thunders about crime in UP and corruption in Delhi, is silent on why his alliance partners continue to bank on musclemen -- men who have switched sides more often than a weathercock but remained firmly embedded in the underbelly.
Jan Suraaj worker Dularchand Yadav was shot dead in Mokama, Bihar, during a clash between two groups while campaigning for elections. Police said the firing erupted when the convoys of two parties crossed paths, with one side allegedly opening fire and attempting to run over the… pic.twitter.com/YjOjZnU2Li
— The Statesman (@TheStatesmanLtd) October 30, 2025
And what of the opposition? Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, part of the INDIA alliance with RJD, haven’t offered alternatives. They’ve offered their own strongmen. They too have fielded those with pending cases -- some more infamous than others -- calculating that caste + crime still equals votes. When asked why, they mumble about “ground realities” and “local strengths.” It’s both cowardice and complicity.
Where Is the Voter’s Place in All This?
Do voters matter in Bihar? Or are they merely statistics to be herded and harvested? The youth of Bihar dream of IITs and UPSC. They read books on ethics and governance. But every five years, the political class teaches them something else: that education has no place in the corridors of power, that the man with a convoy of SUVs and a private militia is more “electable” than the teacher who builds lives, the doctor who heals, or the writer who questions.
What message are we sending when engineers must migrate to Gurgaon for survival, but gangsters get party tickets and Z+ security?
This is a state where public resources are plundered, law enforcement is puppeteered, and governance is reduced to damage control after each act of brutality. The police are not defenders of order but pawns -- ordered to look away when crime is political, and to act only when told by party bosses.
The Philosophy of Failure
Politics, at its noblest, is meant to be about service, vision, and justice. But in Bihar, it has become survival of the most feared. Power is not earned; it is captured. And when morality becomes irrelevant to politics, violence becomes the only language left.
Plato warned that if you do not take an interest in politics, you will be governed by your inferiors. In Bihar, the inferiors are writing the rules -- in blood and impunity.
So what is the end goal of this politics? If the outcome is the same -- death on the street, corruption in office, apathy from Delhi, and compromise from opposition -- what are we voting for?
A State Held Hostage
The tragedy is more than the fact that men like Dularchand Yadav rise to power. It is that only men like him are allowed to. The system filters out merit and rewards menace. And the blame is collective -- the voters, the media, the intellectuals who whisper but do not shout.
In Mokama, a man died. But he was only the latest casualty in Bihar’s war against itself. What is dying, more profoundly, is the belief that politics can ever be different -- that a professor or social worker can represent us, that a candidate without cash or criminal records can win, that democracy means more than damage control.
So let’s stop pretending this is about one election or one man. The real fight is not between Jan Suraaj and JD(U) or RJD and BJP. The real fight is between Bihar and the version of itself it’s being forced to accept where votes are bought, ballots are bloodied, and leadership is decided by who can control the streets, not who can inspire change.
Until that fight is won, Bihar will bleed again. And Biharis, no matter who wins, will continue to lose.