On Thursday, December 11, 2025, the political landscape of Bihar, and indeed all of India, was awash with both celebration and criticism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fresh off the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) sweeping victory in the Bihar state elections, hosted a triumphant dinner for the coalition’s Members of Parliament at his residence. The air was thick with optimism and resolve, as Modi reaffirmed the alliance’s commitment to India’s development and praised the citizen-centric reforms that, in his view, are clearing the path for ordinary people to realize their full potential.
According to reporting from Devdiscourse, the NDA’s win was nothing short of resounding: the coalition, which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha, captured an impressive 202 out of 243 assembly seats. The gathering at Modi’s residence was more than just a victory lap—it was a call to arms for continued collective action. In his remarks, Modi underscored the coalition’s “shared dedication to India’s development,” urging his colleagues to “work collectively in strengthening the nation’s progress.”
But while the NDA was basking in the glow of its electoral triumph, the opposition was facing a far gloomier reckoning. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), once a formidable force in Bihar politics, found itself in deep introspection, if not outright turmoil. Senior RJD leader and former Rajya Sabha member Shivanand Tiwari did not mince words in his public rebuke of Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the party’s president and the scion of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Tiwari’s criticism, delivered in a pointed social media post and further detailed by ETV Bharat, accused Tejashwi of abandoning the field at a crucial moment—jetting off on a foreign trip just days after the opposition INDIA bloc’s defeat.
“You have disappeared after the election results! You should have sat down with your colleagues and fellow workers at the lower level of the party to console them so that their morale could stay up a little. But you left the field. You could not last even for two days. You have demoralised your associates and supporters,” Tiwari wrote, his words echoing the frustration of many within the party’s ranks. He implored Tejashwi to “immediately return” and “roam in Bihar, not like a leader but as a worker. Meet them (party workers) like their equal, not like a sahib (boss). Then only the future will be safe. Do remember, time does not wait for anyone.”
The sting of defeat was especially acute for the INDIA bloc, an alliance that had hoped to challenge the NDA’s dominance. The results were sobering: the bloc managed to secure just 35 seats, with the RJD itself winning only 25. Tejashwi, who had been the chief ministerial candidate, barely managed to hold onto the position of leader of the opposition in the assembly. His decision to embark on a Europe tour during the first week of December—missing the inaugural session of the newly constituted lower house and the governor’s joint address—drew widespread criticism and left many questioning his leadership.
For Tiwari, the issue went beyond mere optics. He accused Tejashwi’s close aides—Sanjay Yadav, a Rajya Sabha member, and former Bihar RJD president Jagadanand Singh—of misleading the young leader about the party’s prospects, suggesting that their advice was motivated by personal gain. “Sanjay and Jagada bhai (Jagadanand) blindfolded you. They showed you green pastures and gained much from it. But you could not face the truth when it confronted you,” Tiwari observed, in a tone both paternal and exasperated.
Tiwari’s critique did not stop there. Drawing from his own long political career, he reminded Tejashwi that true leadership is tested in adversity. “The role of the leader of the side that has lost is bigger than the leader of the side that has won, because he has to bear the responsibility of keeping up the morale of his associates and supporters. If he escapes from the field then he himself announces that he is incapable of returning to the contest,” he wrote. The veteran leader, now 82, is no stranger to political setbacks—he recalled not fleeing the field even when the Samata Party could win just seven seats in a previous election.
Internal party dynamics have only added to the RJD’s woes. Tiwari, once vice-president of the party, was removed from his post in July 2025, a move that left him “staying a bit away from the ‘Lalu family’ these days.” His son, Rahul Tiwary, lost his own assembly seat by more than 15,000 votes—a personal blow that, combined with his ouster from the party’s leadership, seems to have liberated Tiwari to speak his mind. In recent months, he has also publicly criticized Lalu Prasad Yadav, likening him to Dhritarashtra, the blind patriarch from the Mahabharata, for his perceived favoritism toward his son.
The RJD’s internal strife does not end with Tiwari’s critique. Lalu’s children, Rohini Acharya and Tej Pratap Yadav, have also voiced their dissatisfaction with Tejashwi and his inner circle. Rohini Acharya went so far as to sever ties with the family after alleging abuse, while Tej Pratap Yadav has been ejected from both the party and the family following personal controversies. All of this points to a party in the throes of a profound identity crisis, with its senior leadership openly questioning the direction and values of the next generation.
As the political drama played out, another story was quietly unfolding in the digital realm. On the day the Bihar election results were announced—November 14, 2025—the Dainik Bhaskar app, operated by India’s largest circulated daily newspaper group, recorded a staggering 2.1 crore monthly active users nationwide. According to MediaNews4U, the app’s users spent an average of 21 minutes each, the highest engagement among all news apps in India. This surge was powered by a suite of interactive features tailored for the Bihar elections: election history programming, real-time voting and results updates, the Bhaskar Reporter Poll, an AI-powered election chatbot, live video streaming, short reels, constituency-wise results maps, candidate surveys, and a civic issues portal. Girish Agarwal, Promoter Director of Dainik Bhaskar Newspaper Group, remarked, “When India and Bihar wanted credible, real-time information on elections, they turned to the Dainik Bhaskar App — and they stayed with us for average 21 minutes on All India basis. This unparalleled engagement positions Dainik Bhaskar App as the most powerful and effective platform in India at scale.”
In the end, the 2025 Bihar elections have become a microcosm of India’s broader political and media landscape—a scene marked by decisive victories, bitter defeats, public soul-searching, and the relentless march of digital innovation. While the NDA looks to consolidate its gains and push forward with its agenda, the opposition is left to ponder its future. In Bihar, as in the rest of India, the only certainty is that time waits for no one—and the next chapter is already being written.
