The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has officially sworn in Samrat Choudhary (also known as Rakesh Kumar and Samrat Kumar Maurya) as the Chief Minister of Bihar. With Nitish Kumar’s resignation, Samrat Choudhary, who was Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister has taken charge of the state’s top post. The Hindu, NDTV
The Serious Allegations Against Samrat Choudhary
Samrat Choudhary faces multiple criminal cases, the most serious being his alleged involvement in the 1995 Tarapur mass murder case (FIR 44/1995):
- On 29 March 1995, Congress leader Sachchidanand Singh and five supporters were attacked in Kharagpur, Munger district. The incident involved grenade blasts and shootings that killed seven people. FIR named 27 accused, including Samrat Choudhary (then known as Rakesh Kumar) and his father, sitting MLA Shakuni Choudhary. Charges included murder (IPC 302), attempt to murder (307), rioting, and Arms & Explosives Act violations. The Indian Express
- In his 2005 election affidavit, he admitted being an accused in this case and listed it as “disposed” without specifying acquittal or conviction.
- Prashant Kishor has publicly alleged that Samrat Choudhary misrepresented his age in court by filing an affidavit claiming he was a minor (producing a forged admit card showing DOB 1 May 1981 or 1 January 1981, making him under 18 in 1995). This allegedly helped him get bail after 89 days in jail. However, later affidavits and records show he was approximately 26 years old in 1995 (2020 affidavit listed him as 51 years old; 2025 affidavit listed him as 56). Business Standard
- He has also been linked in public discourse to the high-profile 1999 Shilpi Jain-Gautam Singh rape and murder case. Sunday Guardian Live
- His election affidavits show glaring inconsistencies:
- 2000 & 2005 affidavits (fought as “Rakesh Kumar” on RJD ticket): declared “7th pass”.
- 2020 affidavit: claimed “Doctor of LITT from California Public University, USA”.
- Age claims vary significantly across affidavits.
Despite these serious allegations and documented contradictions, the BJP has made him Chief Minister of Bihar.
BJP’s ‘Jungle Raj’ Rhetoric vs Current Reality
For over two decades, the BJP has relentlessly attacked the Jungle Raj of the Lalu Prasad Yadav and RJD era (1990–2005), portraying it as a period of rampant crime, corruption, and lawlessness. The party used ‘End Jungle Raj’ as its core slogan in multiple elections, promising to free Bihar from the RJD’s criminal ecosystem.
Yet today, the same BJP has installed Samrat Choudhary, a leader with deep roots in the RJD ecosystem, serious criminal cases dating back to the 1990s, and allegations of age forgery to escape trial in a mass murder case as Chief Minister.
Why BJP Chose Samrat Choudhary as CM?
The choice is driven purely by cold political calculation:
- Samrat Choudhary belongs to the powerful Kushwaha (Koeri) community, a key OBC group in Bihar.
- BJP needs to expand beyond its traditional upper-caste base and counter the RJD’s Yadav-Muslim consolidation. By projecting an OBC face as CM, the party hopes to consolidate non-Yadav OBC votes and break the dominance of Nitish Kumar’s JD(U).
- His rapid rise within BJP (from RJD background to Bihar BJP president to Deputy CM to CM) shows the party’s willingness to overlook criminal antecedents when electoral arithmetic demands it.
This move sends a dangerous message: In Bihar politics under BJP, past criminal cases are no longer a disqualification. They can even be an asset if they help win caste votes.
Why This Is a Gem
This decision perfectly exposes BJP’s double standards:
- The party which claims to fight jungle raj and criminalization of politics has handed the Chief Minister’s post to a leader facing grave criminal allegations from the very era it demonizes. It proves that for BJP, power and caste engineering matter more than clean governance or the rule of law.
- By ignoring serious murder charges, age misrepresentation claims, and affidavit contradictions, the party is normalizing the idea that “alleged criminals” can occupy the highest constitutional positions if they deliver votes.
The Real Impact on Bihar’s Future
Making an alleged criminal the Chief Minister will have long-term damaging consequences for Bihar:
- Law and Order Collapse: With the Home portfolio already under him earlier, criminals will feel emboldened knowing the top leadership itself faces similar allegations.
- Erosion of Public Trust: Ordinary citizens, especially the youth aspiring for a better Bihar, will lose faith in the system when they see that serious criminal cases no longer matter in politics.
- Caste Over Merit: Development and good governance will take a backseat as caste arithmetic and muscle power dominate decision-making.
- Economic Setback: Investors and industries will hesitate to come to a state where the Chief Minister faces serious criminal charges, further delaying Bihar’s progress.
- Normalization of Crime in Politics: Samrat Chaudhary becoming Bihar’s CM sets a dangerous precedent. Future generations will see criminal antecedents as acceptable for the highest office.
Bihar, which desperately needs clean, development-focused leadership, is instead being pushed deeper into the politics of caste, crime and opportunism.
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