Our June 2005 cover on Lalu Yadav

Lalu Prasad Yadav was a political miracle of sorts. For 15 years he defied all conventional electoral wisdom: that governance matters, that corruption matters, that incumbency matters. During his tenure, Bihar came to epitomise the worst in Indian politics. Governance was a sham. The state was broke and unable to pay the salaries of many of its employees. Corruption was rampant. Law and order non-existent in large measure. Still, Lalu's party emerged as the single largest political grouping in four out of the five assembly elections in the past 15 years. He survived on slogans of social justice and secularism and blatant casteist politics. Now, in the latest assembly elections, the chickens have come home to roost. Lalu has been buried under a landslide vote for change. Bihar, and the country, must be relieved that ultimately good governance does matter and that India's basket case now has a chance to recover from 15 years of misrule.

In INDIA TODAY annual State of the States ranking, Bihar, not surprisingly, was ranked at the bottom on every parameter for three years running. In fact, at our first State of the States function we had invited Lalu along with other chief ministers. When the economists presented the results, Lalu, true-to-type, jumped up from his seat and disrupted the proceedings, declaring loudly that it was a BJP conspiracy and staging a noisy walkout. Such histrionics failed to impress the electorate this time. Also, as happens in India occasionally, there was a right person at the right place at the right time in the form of an election commissioner who ensured the freest and fairest elections Bihar has ever had.

The new leader of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, and his coalition partner the BJP, have a gigantic task ahead of them. The big challenge will be to clean up the terrible mess Lalu has left behind. Bihar's per capita income is one-third of the national average, over 50 per cent of Bihar's population is illiterate, the highest in the country, and only one out of 10 families in the state has an electricity connection. More shocking: 40 per cent of Bihar is below the poverty line, double the national average.

Our cover story for this issue was put together by a team of Bihar experts. Senior Editor Farzand Ahmed, who has covered Bihar for over 20 years, toured the state an entire month before the election to gauge the mood and add his expertise to Patna Correspondent Sanjay Kumar Jha. The story was coordinated by Executive Editor S. Prasannarajan who has written extensively on the Lalu phenomenon. As Ahmed says, "Although Lalu is out of power, his legacy will take many years to overcome. He has been such a dominant force in Bihar politics that he will cast a long shadow over the future of the state and its new rulers."

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