Ahead of electoral battle in Bihar, RJD, NDA engage in social media war

Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) Supremo Nitish Kumar. | Photo Credit: PTI

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the two main rivals in the politics of Bihar, where Assembly polls are due in a few months, on Saturday (May 24, 2025), made use of social media and animation technology to pin each other down.

On its X handle, the RJD, which hopes that its young leader Tejashwi Yadav will rise to power, trained its guns at Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) Supremo Nitish Kumar.

In an animated video, with a background commentary rendered like a "rap" number, Mr. Kumar has been called "paltu" (a turncoat) whose "baate hain faltu" (talks nonsense).

Notably, the longest-serving CM of Bihar has also had two short-lived alliances with the RJD, headed by his arch rival Lalu Prasad, and Mr. Yadav, the latter's younger son and heir apparent, occupied the post of Deputy Chief Minister on both occasions.

Now in the opposition, the RJD minced no words in voicing its frustration, as it wondered whether the septuagenarian had allegedly applied "fevicol" to his seat of power, to retain it despite "political somersaults".

Although the barbs were aimed at the JD(U) supremo, it was the alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), known to have superior machinery, that came forward to pay the opponent in the same coin.

The saffron party's Bihar unit came out with two videos on its X handle to deride Mr. Prasad and his family, who controls the opposition party.

In one of these, Mr. Prasad and his two sons, Mr. Tejashwi and Tej Pratap, have been shown to be riding an autorickshaw, with the driver showing them the "vikas" (development) that has taken place in the last two decades.

The trio is later shown to have been miffed, asking the driver to stop as they did not wish to be taken for a ride by an alleged "NDA supporter".

Yet another video has been titled "Gangs of Ghotalebaz", an obvious parody of "Gangs of Wassrypur", a blockbuster film about the mafia culture that once prevailed in mineral-rich parts of undivided Bihar, now in Jharkhand.

Lots of morphed videos and photos of Mr. Lalu and Mr. Tejashwi figure in the video, with a parody of a 1980s Bollywood number, describing the various "scams" (ghotala) the father-son duo has been accused of.

Published - May 24, 2025 03:09 pm IST