Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 28: The Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday released its manifesto for the 2025 Bihar assembly elections leading with a series of significant populist promises including a government job to one member of every household, a monthly allowance of Rs 2,500 for women, restoration of old pension scheme and 200 units of free power.
The 32-page-long ‘Bihar ka Tejashwi Pran’ (Tejashwi’s resolve) was released at a crowded press conference where the 35-year-old Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader, the chief ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc was joined by the leaders of other alliance partners.
The manifesto has 25 major points assuring practical solutions, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said at the manifesto release. The document, unveiled as the INDIA Alliance’s Sankalp Patra 2025, carries the slogan: “Sampoorna Bihar ka, Sampoorna Parivartan – Tejashwi Pratigya, Tejashwi Pran.”
The launch event was attended by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Congress leader Pawan Khera, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani and CPI(ML)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya.
The alliance’s manifesto outlined a wide-ranging agenda focusing on employment, welfare, and governance reforms. “A new law guaranteeing employment would be introduced within 20 days of the INDIA bloc forming the government in Bihar,” Mr Yadav said.
The central promise of the manifesto is employment. The Mahagathbandhan has pledged to enact a law within 20 days of forming the government to ensure one government job per family. The process of job distribution, it said, would begin within 20 months of assuming power.
The manifesto also promises to regularise all contractual and outsourced employees, and make all Jeevika (self-help group) women permanent government employees with a monthly salary of Rs 30,000. Tejashwi Yadav said, “Not only do we have to form the government in Bihar, we also have to make a new Bihar… The Mahagathbandhan alliance has released the Sankalp Patra for Bihar.”
Among the welfare measures, the alliance has promised to provide 200 units of free electricity to every household and gas cylinders for Rs 500 to poor families. The manifesto also pledged to resolve problems caused by faulty smart meters and withdraw all related cases.
The manifesto includes the “Mai-Bahin Maan Yojana”, under which women will receive Rs 2,500 per month starting December 1, translating to Rs 30,000 annually for five years.
It also promises free health insurance of up to Rs 25 lakh per person, Rs 1,500 monthly pension for widows and senior citizens (with a yearly Rs 200 increase), and Rs 3,000 for persons with disabilities.
The Mahagathbandhan vowed to restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and open women’s colleges in every sub-division, along with new degree colleges in 136 blocks that currently lack one. It also promised to abolish examination fees for competitive tests and provide free travel to exam centres.
The Mahagathbandhan said it would guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, revive local markets and mandis, and ensure effective implementation of welfare schemes for Dalits, backward classes, and minorities.
It also pledged to resist any “unconstitutional law” imposed by the Centre and to protect the constitutional rights of all minority communities. The alliance promised that the Waqf Amendment Bill would be put on hold and the management of Waqf properties would be made more welfare-oriented and beneficial by making those transparent, while the management of Buddhist temples located in Bodh Gaya would be handed over to the people of the Buddhist community.
The manifesto further promises to set up a welfare corporation for ex-servicemen, review the prohibition law, and exclude toddy and mahua-based traditional occupations from its purview.
Congress leader Pawan Khera said, “The Mahagathbandhan was the first to announce its chief ministerial candidate and to release its manifesto. This shows who is serious about Bihar. We have to get Bihar back on track… Today is a very auspicious day as the state was waiting for this ‘pran’.”
VIP chief Mukesh Sahani, who has been announced as Deputy Chief Minister candidate if INDIA bloc wins, added, “For the next 30–35 years, we will work for the service of the people of Bihar. We will fulfil all the public’s aspirations. The NDA has no ‘Sankalp’.”
The manifesto ends with an appeal to the people of Bihar to join the alliance in building a “just and new Bihar” founded on social justice, equality, and democratic values.
Bihar will go to the polls in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with counting of votes to be held on November 14.
The Opposition Grand Alliance in Bihar has named RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani as its deputy chief ministerial face for the assembly polls.
The Opposition Grand Alliance in Bihar, which is hoping to dislodge chief minister Nitish Kumar from power after four consecutive terms, has been riven by public infighting over the choice of candidates and seats, and is still facing “friendly fights” in at least 10 seats.
As per the arrangement agreed so far, the RJD is contesting on 143 seats, the Congress on 61, VIP on 15, the three Left parties on 33 and the Indian Inclusive Party on one seat.
This means that for 243 seats, the number of candidates for the alliance is 253, underlining the public tussle for seats and candidates that has weakened the alliance’s campaigning over the last two weeks.
“We have announced the Chief Ministerial face as well. Today, we have released the ‘Tejashwi Pran Patra’ on how we are going to work for the next five years,” Tejashwi Yadav said.
“We want the NDA to announce the name of their Chief Minister. What schemes do they have? What is their vision, and how are they going to take Bihar forward? We have given a roadmap, a vision, and we are clear that we will make Bihar number one. They only speak negative things and make allegations about our leaders,” he later told reporters in a jibe at the NDA, which is yet to release its manifesto.
The Grand Alliance had smarted for long under BJP jibes over its tardy progress in terms of campaigning, seat sharing talks and the absence of Congress’s Rahul Gandhi from Ground Zero. The opposition bloc had also exacted sweet revenge when it announced its Chief Ministerial candidate, jeering at the NDA, which is yet to do so.
The limelight of the event, in fact, was on Tejashwi Yadav, the Chief Ministerial candidate, to the extent that the manifesto had his face front and centre. Rahul Gandhi appeared on the document almost as an afterthought – his thumbnail image adorning only a corner of the document’s cover.
In a related development, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the “Modi-Nitish” government has strangled the aspirations of the youth in Bihar, left the state abandoned and pushed it into an abyss on every development parameter.
Mr Gandhi asserted that now is the time for change and to reaffirm the Mahagathbandhan’s resolve for justice. He made the remarks in a post on X, accompanied by a video of his interaction with Bihar’s youth recently.
“A few days ago, I had a very interesting conversation with the youth of Bihar on – education, health, employment – every issue. And, there is only one culprit responsible for the deplorable state on all these counts, the BJP-JDU government,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said in his post.
Mr Gandhi pointed out that on the education front, in terms of dropout rate in classes 9 to 10, Bihar is 27th out of 29 States; in enrollment rate in classes 11 and 12, it is 28th out of 29 States; and in female literacy, the State is 28th out of 29 states. On the job front, in terms of employment in the service sector, Bihar is ranked 21st; while in the industry/manufacturing sector, it is 23rd, he said.