Ex-World Bank official, journalist, cop-turned-professor — Bihar’s new crop of candidates

In a state used to seeing political dynasts and people with criminal backgrounds contest elections, a small group of candidates is trying to offer an alternative. Here’s a look at them.

(From left to right) Gulrez Hoda, Akhilesh Kumar, Ritu Jaiswal and Nikhil Anand. | Photo: Facebook/Twitter

New Delhi: Nearly one-third candidates in Bihar so far have a criminal background, reinforcing the notion that money and muscle power is the first criteria to meet for fighting elections in the state. But a group of professionals, including a former World Bank official, are looking to challenge this idea in the assembly election that begins next week.

Among the hundreds of candidates in the fray are Gulrez Hoda, a retired IAS officer who worked at the World Bank, Akhilesh Kumar, a former police officer-turned-professor, Ritu Jaiswal, a Delhi-educated village chief (mukhiya), and Nikhil Anand, a journalist-turned-politician.

These candidates wish to change the political narrative in Bihar, which will see dynasts and notorious politicians, among others, go head to head in the polls beginning 28 October.

ThePrint spoke to the four of them about their motivations and aspirations as they prepare for their political battles.

Gulrez Hoda

Hoda is battling the Narkatiaganj assembly segment against sitting Congress MLA Vinay Verma and BJP candidate Rashmi Verma, who won the seat in the 2010 assembly polls.

A 1977-batch IAS officer, Hoda was a director in the Ministry of Finance when Manmohan Singh was its minster. He was among the policymakers at the ministry when the 1991 economic reforms were launched.

On Singh’s recommendation, the Bihar-born Hoda later went to the World Bank, where he worked for nearly two decades until 2013. After his international stint, he returned to his home state for a larger ground-level change. At the time, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar offered him a post to shape Bihar’s planning board.

In 2019, Hoda came in touch with former state minister Purnmasi Ram, and Yashwant Sinha. Ram, a five-time MLA and former MP, is part of the Jan Sangharsh Dal, which is contesting 17 seats in West Champaran. Hoda was brought into the outfit, which is being led by former Union minister Yashwant Sinha.

“After World Bank, I established a foundation which is working for girl education. We have opened two schools, a third one is in the pipeline,” he said, referring to his Hikmat Foundation in Bihar.

“But in 2019, we thought, can’t we challenge established political parties? We have seen various regimes in Bihar and policymaking closely. Bihar needs a lot more which is yet to be done. Yashwant ji was a guiding force … he has united us,” said Hoda.

“Due to ill health, he is not in the campaign, but we are in a good fight on six-seven seats,” he added.

Akhilesh Kumar

After securing the 9th rank in Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) exam in 2013, Akhilesh Kumar joined the Bihar Police as deputy superintendent of police (DSP). However, within a few years, Kumar resigned from the service as he felt that it was not his cup of tea.

He then joined the Patna Science College, one of Bihar’s premier colleges, as a professor.
During his teaching stint, he started coaching poor students for civil services and for BPSC exams. But apathy of politicians motivated him to take a plunge into politics, he said.

“I have studied in Navodaya Vidyalaya, from school to college. I never took tuition and coaching. I got selected in BPSC, but after a few years I found that this job is not meant for me. So I resigned and joined teaching. Most of the time, I guide underprivileged students about civil services,” he said.

“Whenever I visit any place, I give my number to students and ask if they need any counselling about their career. Through this network, I’m connected to thousands of students. I will continue my work whether I win or lose,” he said.

Asked about his decision to fight the election, Kumar said, “I thought I should do an experiment. Many people in my village frequently say no good candidate fights elections, so we have no option but to vote for criminal and corrupt politicians. So I decided I will give them an alternative. Now, I am saying you have an alternative, you can vote for me,” he said.

The professor is fighting from the Narpatganj seat where RJD’s Anil Yadav and BJP’s Jai Prakash Yadav are up against him.

“My campaign is a zero-budget campaign with no money. I drive my car and two-three people sit in my car. We campaign through only this one car. We go to villages, eat there with one of them. There are no posters and banners,” he said.

“I ask them if they find a better candidate than me, they should vote for him, but if they don’t find, vote for me,” he said. “This is an experiment and I will see how people vote, at least in my constituency.”

Ritu Jaiswal

Unlike the others, Bihar-born Ritu Jaiswal is actually in governance already, being the mukhiya of Singhwahini village in Sitamarhi.

After she married an IAS officer, Arun Kumar who is from the 1995 batch, she moved to Delhi and taught at a private school for a few years. However, whenever she visited her state, she would see the pathetic condition of the villages, which eventually spurred her to bring a change. In 2014, she fought, and won, the mukhiya elections.

“When I came here, this village was like Premchand’s village stories. Malnourished children, village full of old men and women with no youth … My heart sank. I started to work on changing the contours of the village. I talked to villagers, noted their concerns and asked help from district authorities, which they have provided,” said Jaiswal.

After that, she took many initiatives to change her village — from community biogas to stopping open defection, free toilets to solar light.

“I started to work on some form of employment … like we have started mask-making during Covid. I engaged lots of women, we are promoting to make several food items prepared here and can be sold in nearby markets to empower women,” she said.

Last year, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu felicitated her for her outstanding work with the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar, which is given to the best performing villages across the country.

Her husband took early retirement and now coaches IAS aspirants in Patna. Jaiswal’s journey could might now lead to the Vidhan Sabha.

“This is not a one-day fight, but we will empower through our participation in politics, which is thought of as untouchable in a middle-class family,” she added.

She has been fielded by the RJD from the Parihar constituency.

Nikhil Anand

Before joining politics, Nikhil Anand was a journalist, with a post-graduate diploma from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.

He began his career in TV news, working with various news channels like Zee News, India TV, Sahara Samay and filmmaker Prakash Jha-owned Maurya TV, a Bihar-based channel.

After 17 years in journalism, he plunged into politics during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, when he joined the BJP. Nityanand Rai, then BJP state president included him into his team as spokesperson. Soon, he made his mark due to his experience in Bihar. He became a favourite of Bhupendra Yadav, Bihar BJP in-charge and Sanjay Jaiswal, BJP state president.

He is now contesting the Maner seat in this election. The BJP had been in search of candidates for the seat owing to the previous candidate, Srikant Nirala’s anti-party activities in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

For Anand, this is a tough fight as RJD won this seat — which has around one lakh Yadav voters out of the total three lakh — in the 2015 assembly election.

“I joined to work in the organisation. But when the party asked to fight this constituency, I was ready to take the plunge. People are dissatisfied with the sitting MLA. I’m getting a very positive response despite the RJD stronghold. They want change and development-oriented politics. I’m trying to give a surprise to the BJP high command by winning this seat,” Anand said.