Parties take yatra route in Bihar

Politicians are hitting the streets ahead of Assembly polls next year. While CM Nitish Kumar is seeking to consolidate his party's woman vote base, Tejashwi Yadav is trying an image makeover for the RJD. SATYAVRAT MISHRA reports

- SATYAVRAT MISHRA

The word "yatra", like its English equivalent "journey" or "tour", is not loaded with political meaning. It would at best mean taxiing before election campaigns (prachaar abhiyaan), with all their cut and thrust, take off. This is what is happening now in Bihar with Assembly elections less than a year away (the term of the Assembly ends on November 22, 2025).

From Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to the leader of the Opposition, the Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD's) Tejashwi Yadav, politicians of all hues have, or are planning to, embark on yatras to reach out to the electorate and feel the political pulse.

Kumar will set off on his Mahila Samvad Yatra next month. It was scheduled to begin on December 15, but was later postponed due to the timing being "inauspicious". It will be the 73-year-old leader's 15th such state-wide tour. During the proposed yatra, Kumar will interact with women voters, chiefly Jeevika Didis-members of state-sponsored women self-help groups (SHGs), and review the progress of his government's Saat Nishchaya Yojana (seven-resolve programme).

Yadav, 35, has kicked off the third phase of his Karyakarta Samvad Yatra. During the yatra, Tejashwi will meet party workers and leaders. On Saturday, he reached out to women, considered a support base for the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), by promising ₹2,500 A MONTH to women in the state under the Mai Behan Maan Yojana. "This scheme will be launched and implemented within one month of the formation of our government in Bihar," Yadav said in Darbhanga during his Karyakarta Samvad Yatra. In this yatra, Yadav will try to shed the traditional image of his party and reach out to every section of society, not just the traditional Muslim-Yadav support base of the RJD.