Many things in politics are 'managed'. One of the current 'managed' successes is the perception that Nitish Kumar is doing wonders in Bihar. If you compare his work with the Lalloo Yadav regime, then of course there is no contest. Things were so, so bad back then.

Here is why things may be different n Bihar:

1. Officers have been given all the power over projects. The erstwhile politician villain has been put aside. But, go to any block or district office in Bihar. No project work is allotted without the 25% fix for the politician involved in the decision-making. then there are officers who now can make more money since there is less political interference at play.

2. On the development front, most work is being done on roads, hospitals and such which are centrally-funded schemes. The difference is, during Lalloo's regime, work on funded projects was impossible to complete. Call it progress, if you will.

3. Caste is important more than ever: Nitish has been on record saying that the “development of the state, better governance and improved law and order situation” would be the main plank of JD -U during the elections. However, look at the list of party's candidates and caste is important like never before. People have been given tickets based on their caste-support rather than image, work experience. Moreover, criminals like Munna Shukla have been given tickets.

In fact, it would not be far-fetched to say that Nitish is trying to outdo Lalloo, not undo Lalloo - Lalloo created the so-called Muslim-Yadav (MY) vote bank, Nitish is creating the Maha Dalit vote bank. People are being reduced to boxes. We are all things now. Through his caste-schemes, Nitish is the latest in the series of politicians using 'social engineering' to grab more power.

The ideology of Jaiprakash Narain is long dead. Is this the 'total revolution'?