Too Hot to Handle?

Land reforms, a largely unimplemented and mostly shelved programme, is considered central to Bihar's growth. Yet, it has little currency during election campaigning

- Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

LAND has always been at the heart of Bihar's politics, but land reforms rarely appear to make it to the political stage. A 2012 study called it “an agenda without a political champion”, and little has changed since. As Bihar heads into the November 2025 general elections, the state remains among the most land-stressed in India and the silence around land reforms continues.

Back in 2008, a state-appointed commission said Bihar's economy could not grow without land reforms. The government rejected its report a year later, and the issue faded soon after. Nearly every major party, ruling or the Opposition, has since steered clear of it in their campaigns.

Evidently, land remains a subject most parties prefer to avoid, even after an October 2025 report by the National Confederation of Dalit and Adivasi Organisations (NACDAOR) called landlessness the “single biggest cause of Dalit poverty in Bihar”. Dalits make up about a fifth of the state's population, yet most remain without land of their own.

“If we're part of the new government, we'll push for land distribution as per the recommendations of the Debabrata Bandyopadhyay commission,” says Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of CPI(ML)(Liberation), one of the crucial components of the Opposition alliance called Mahagathbandhan. His party has promised redistribution of around 21 lakh acres of land by implementing the 2008 recommendations of the Debabrata Bandyopadhyay Commission. The party, which currently has 12 MLAs in the 243-seat Bihar assembly, is contesting in 20 seats this time.