Bihar Election 2025: “Gun or Governance?” — PM Modi’s Final Overs Turn the Game for NDA

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Patna:
As Bihar enters the decisive phase of its 2025 assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stepped into the campaign’s “final overs” — and turned the contest into a high-stakes battle between “Jungle Raj vs Good Governance.”
With voting for the second phase set to end on November 9, the NDA has revived its most enduring political weapon — the specter of the “Jungle Raj.” Just as it worked 28 years ago, the issue seems to resonate again today, especially among first-time voters who never lived through the lawless years but are now being reminded through powerful digital campaigns.

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Modi’s ‘Final Over’ Strategy

In a fiery address in Aurangabad, PM Modi launched a direct attack on the RJD, accusing it of symbolizing crime and corruption.

“Do you want the rule of the gun or the rule of law?” Modi thundered, invoking the slogan “Katta ya Kanoon?” (Gun or Governance).
He alleged that RJD’s return would mean the revival of kidnappings, extortion, and fear — “the same dark days when life in Bihar had no security.”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, campaigning in Jamui, sharpened the attack:

“If Tejashwi comes to power, he will open a new department — the Department of Kidnapping.”
He warned voters not to let “Jungle Raj return in disguise — with new clothes and a new face.”

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‘Jungle Raj’: An Evergreen Election Theme

For the NDA, “Jungle Raj” is an ever-effective slogan. It helped Nitish Kumar rise to power in 2005 with a promise to end lawlessness. Two decades later, the same narrative is being replayed — with digital precision.
Social media is flooded with recreated visuals of Bihar’s most shocking crimes: from the Siwan acid attack, to the engineer Satyendra Dubey murder case, and the Shilpi-Gautam double murder in Patna. The goal: remind voters what Bihar once was — and warn what it could become again.

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Explosive Revelations from the Past

Adding fuel to the campaign, former MP Subhash Yadav, brother-in-law of former CM Rabri Devi, made a stunning confession earlier this year.
In an interview, he alleged that during the RJD regime, “kidnapping cases were managed directly from the Chief Minister’s residence.” He further claimed that for high-profile cases, “suspects were contacted from the CM’s office to negotiate settlements.”
He also revealed that during Rohini Acharya’s wedding, luxury car dealers in Patna were “forced to provide new cars” for the ceremony.
His remarks triggered a massive political uproar, reopening old wounds of Bihar’s infamous past.

Current Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Singh added to the controversy, recalling how his own son was kidnapped during Lalu’s rule. Even a former DGP, D.P. Ojha, had once revealed that a state minister’s relative had to pay ₹30 lakh ransom to free his kidnapped son.

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The Welfare Pitch: NDA’s Parallel Game Plan

While the “Jungle Raj” narrative fuels emotion, the NDA is also banking on development and welfare schemes to consolidate votes.
Under CM Nitish Kumar’s “Mahila Rozgar Yojana”, over 1.5 crore women have received financial aid of ₹10,000 each — a move seen as a game changer. In the first phase, women’s voter turnout surpassed men’s, a trend analysts believe favours the ruling coalition.

Yet, despite these social welfare successes, Modi and Shah continue to bowl “yorkers” with the Jungle Raj narrative — unwilling to leave anything to chance.

For the NDA, this election is not just about numbers — it’s about memory.
And as the campaign enters its final overs, the question remains:
“Bihar, what do you choose — Gun or Governance?”