'Nitish Kumar is the only leader who gave us everything.'
Residents of Kalyan Bigha, the native village of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Nalanda district, are confident that he will continue in the top post after the Bihar assembly elections that is underway.
"Nitish Kumar will become chief minister, there are no ifs or buts. No one is better than him for the development of Bihar," states Samir Kumar, a resident of Kalyan Bigha.
His view is readily echoed by a dozen villagers gathered near the village temple.
"Nitish Kumar has been taking Bihar on the path of development," says Ranjit Kumar. "He deserves another term to take it further."
Kalyan Bigha is dominated by the Kurmi community, a powerful Other Backward Class to which Nitish Kumar belongs.
However, support for "Nitish Babu" extends to other castes, including other OBCs, Extremely Backward Classes and Dalits.
"Though I am a poor man, Nitish Babu is my dada. There is no leader like him in Bihar," says Ratan Manjhi, a member of the highly marginalised Musahar (Dalit) community,
"We vote for his party candidate to see Nitish Kumar as chief minister," says Arjun Kumar, a middle-aged farmer. "We will never vote for the return of 'Jungle Raj'."
Manjhi, who along with dozens of his caste members was seated in a narrow pucca lane of Musahar Tola, adjacent to Kalyan Bigha.
"In the last two decades, Nitish Kumar brought development to our doorstep as we are getting free electricity, drinking water, many of us constructed pucca houses, and we have good roads, thanks to government funds," a member of the Musahar community says.
Punia Devi, a Paswan woman harvesting paddy as a farm labourer, credits Nitish Kumar for improving women's welfare.
"Early this month most women got a cash benefit of ₹10,000, free electricity, ration. Nitish Kumar is the only leader who gave us everything."
Satish Ranjan, a college student, has a message for the chief minister.
"We youth support Nitishji for development; there is little doubt that he worked hard to develop Bihar. But Nitishji should work to create more jobs in the state because unemployment is rampant. Not only labourers, but a large number of educated and professionals have been forced to migrate outside the state for jobs and livelihood."
"Where is the scope to believe that Nitish Kumar is not healthy?" asks Samir Kumar. "It is merely a rumour. Nitish Kumar is busy campaigning and addressing rallies daily like a young leader."
Chandradev Ramani, an elderly villager, concurs: "Nitish Kumar has been working as usual, alert, taking decisions."
For the residents of Kalyan Bigha, which falls under the Janata Dal-United stronghold of Harnaut assembly constituency, the conviction remains resolute: Nitish Babu is, and will continue to be, their chief minister.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff