Kicking off the Bihar Assembly election campaign from Samastipur in Bihar’s Mithila region Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to weave together the discourses of social justice, development and Hindutva, while at the same time cautioning people not to let “jungle raj” return to the state. He also sought to tacitly answer the charge of the opposition that the BJP had fought shy of declaring Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate because it wanted to replace him after the elections, without overtly naming Kumar the CM candidate.

The PM’s choice to begin with Samastipur is significant as the BJP has attempted to co-opt the socialist legacy of former CM Karpoori Thakur, who was conferred the Bharat Ratna last year by the NDA government. Before the public meeting, the PM vi

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