On November 20, 2025, Patna will once again witness a familiar political ritual: Nitish Kumar, the stalwart leader of the Janata Dal (United), is set to be sworn in as Bihar’s Chief Minister for the tenth time. This event, remarkable in its own right, cements Nitish Kumar’s position as the longest serving chief minister in the state’s history and sets a new national record for the number of times an individual has been administered the chief ministerial oath in India, according to Hindustan Times.
Yet, if one were to judge solely by the subdued atmosphere at the JD(U) headquarters on Veerchand Patel Road in Patna the evening after the election results, the magnitude of this victory might seem understated. Despite the party nearly doubling its seat tally to 85 and supporters dancing in the courtyard with pink and green gulaal, Nitish himself was notably absent from the celebrations. As 65-year-old Om Prakash Singh, a dedicated supporter from Saran district, put it, “The body feels tired, but the mind wants more.” Still, the man at the center of it all kept his distance, a reflection, perhaps, of a leader who has become increasingly self-contained and contemplative with age. Saryu Roy, a close associate and campaigner, explained, “He is oversatisfied with what he has done for the people of Bihar and thinks about why he would celebrate the victory. He is above petty politics.” (Outlook).
Nitish Kumar’s journey to this historic tenth swearing-in has been anything but conventional. Born in 1951 in Kalyanbigha village of Nalanda district, he was drawn to politics during his years studying electrical engineering at the Bihar College of Engineering under Patna University. His father, Ram Lakhan Singh, a politician and ayurveda practitioner, left the Congress in frustration after being denied a ticket, a disappointment that deeply affected Nitish and shaped his early political consciousness.
His political career began in the tumultuous 1970s, when he joined student politics and became close to Lalu Prasad Yadav, who would later become a formidable rival. During the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975, Nitish went underground to avoid arrest, but was detained in June 1976 and spent nine months in jail. After his release in 1977, he contested the Bihar assembly elections from Harnaut, losing twice before finally securing victory in 1985 on a Lok Dal ticket amid allegations of electoral malpractice. The win revived his political fortunes, and by 1989, he had won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Barh and was appointed Union Minister of State (Outlook).
Despite a long friendship with Lalu, Nitish found himself marginalized after Lalu became chief minister. The two parted ways over differences in reservation policies for backward classes. Veteran journalist Ganga Prasad observed, “Actually Nitish Kumar wanted to implement former chief minister Karpoori Thakur’s reservation formula, which gives more reservation to the extremely backward class, but Lalu had implemented a reservation which gave more reservation to OBC. That became the trigger point of Nitish parting ways from Lalu.” In 1994, Nitish and thirteen other MPs broke from the Janata Party to form the Janata Party (George), later the Samata Party, which allied with the BJP. This alliance, and the eventual formation of the JD(U), set the stage for Nitish’s ascent to power in 2005 (Outlook).
Since then, Nitish Kumar’s tenure as chief minister has been marked by an almost dizzying number of oaths, switches in political alliances, and comebacks. Conventionally, the years he’s spent in office would have seen him take the oath only five times, placing him among a select group of Indian chief ministers. But Nitish’s path has defied convention. His first term in 2000 lasted just seven days before he resigned due to lack of majority. He returned to office after the 2005 and 2010 assembly elections, but resigned in 2014 following a poor showing by the JD(U) in elections contested without the BJP and RJD. He reclaimed the chief ministership in 2015, then again after the 2015 and 2020 elections, switching alliances between the JD(U)-RJD-Congress coalition and the NDA. In 2017, 2022, and 2024, further political maneuvers added three more oath-takings to his tally, as he switched between the NDA and RJD-led alliances (Hindustan Times).
To date, Nitish has served 7,023 days as chief minister, ranking him eighth among India’s longest-serving CMs. Should he complete his current term, he’d move up to third place nationally, trailing only Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim and Naveen Patnaik of Odisha. He has also served under 14 different governors, the third highest for any chief minister in India (Hindustan Times).
Policy-wise, Nitish Kumar’s legacy is perhaps most evident in his focus on women’s empowerment and social welfare. Inspired by a 2006 event where he distributed cycles to underprivileged children, he launched the now-famous free bicycle scheme for high school girls. “I always believed that any society cannot progress unless its women progress and the women in any society cannot progress unless they are educated,” Nitish wrote in a 2010 blog. Over the years, he introduced a series of women-centric policies: 33% reservation for women in state engineering and medical colleges in 2021, and 35% reservation for women in all government jobs in July 2025. The World Bank-aided Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project (JEEViKA) has also touched millions, with over 11 lakh self-help groups formed in nearly 35,000 villages.
Most recently, the Mahila Rozgar Yojana promised up to Rs. 2 lakh for aspiring businesswomen, with the first loan installments transferred to 75 lakh women in September 2025 and another 21 lakh in October. During the campaign, Nitish declared that women would not be required to repay the money, a move that critics say was pivotal to his electoral success. Subhashini Ali, a former MP, offered a more critical take, noting, “Women are so poor and helpless that immediately having Rs. 10,000 credited to their bank account was certainly a big deal for them. Many voted for him because they got Rs. 10,000 and many votes, as they were hoping for a chance to get it. This reflects their acute poverty.” She also lamented the lack of employment opportunities and persistent migration, as well as the government’s failure to address the debt cycle of micro-finance affecting women.
Nitish Kumar’s political resilience is matched only by his penchant for political maneuvering, or “jod tod,” as Ganga Prasad describes it. Former Rajya Sabha MP Shivanand Tiwari, who has known Nitish for decades, wrote on November 17, 2025, “Nitish Kumar is a weak man at heart. He has never taken a risk in his life. That is why he remained confined to Bihar.” Yet, supporters like Shyam Rajak, a newly elected MLA and former cabinet colleague, see him differently: “Nitish is a socialist in the true sense but not a casteist. Development of all sections of society is his motto, which led him to this massive win.”
His relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been a study in contrasts—at times adversarial, at times deferential, and always pragmatic. Once a vocal critic who barred Modi from campaigning in Bihar, Nitish was recently seen attempting to touch the Prime Minister’s feet, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by political observers.
Despite repeated rumors of declining health and imminent retirement, Nitish Kumar has demonstrated an uncanny ability to stage comebacks. The 2025 election was no exception, with the JD(U) confounding expectations and securing a decisive mandate. As Outlook noted, party leaders themselves were at a loss to explain the scale of the victory, acknowledging that for many voters, the prospect of losing Nitish meant the end of development work in Bihar.
As the state prepares for yet another swearing-in, Nitish Kumar’s enduring presence at the helm of Bihar politics tells a story of adaptability, ambition, and the complex dance of alliances that define Indian democracy. The new government inherits not just a mandate, but a burden of expectations—one that Nitish Kumar, for all his years in power, appears ready to shoulder once more.
