'Jungle Raj': Ghost of the past or political weapon in perception battles in election

Patna/Jehanabad, Nov 8 (PTI) In the current Bihar elections, fierce battles are being fought between key political rivals on campaign grounds, social media platforms, TV studios, and also in people's memories.

In the battlefield of public memories, perhaps no other phrase has become a greater political weapon than the oft-repeated label of 'jungle raj', a term frequently used by leaders of the JD(U) and its main ally BJP to attack the RJD and the opposition alliance.

The ruling NDA's leaders in the state and at the Centre, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have invoked the infamous epithet or its political connotation on several occasions during the campaigns.

Leading a full-frontal attack on the INDIA bloc and its key constituent RJD, in the run-up to the first phase of the 2025 Assembly polls, from elections rallies on ground to online interactions with booth-level workers, Modi has repeatedly urged voters to "keep 'jungle raj' at bay" and asked to "spread awareness about 'jungle raj' that was," among the youth.

The phrase is used and reused by the ruling alliance's leaders to refer to the alleged lawlessness and poor administration during the rule of Lalu Prasad and subsequently his wife Rabri Devi in the 1990s.

A day after the end of phase one of the polls, Modi continued the political onslaught while campaigning in Bhabhua in south Bihar's Kaimur district on Friday, and in an election rally, took a 'jungle raj' swipe at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the INDIA bloc CM face, and son of Lalu Prasad.

"When the prince of 'jungle raj' is asked how he would fulfil the big lies (promises) told to people, he says they have a plan, and when asked what is the plan, they are unable to spell it out," he said.

While it has been 20 years since the Nitish government first came to power, riding on the assertion that he "ended the 'jungle raj' and reestablished the rule of law", the battle of political oneupmanship, especially during elections, keeps this ghost of the past alive. During high-decibel election rallies or high-octane political debates on TV channels, NDA leaders often invoke the infamous phrase, sometimes multiple times in a day or in an address, and ask voters, "Do you want to see the return of 'jungle raj' in Bihar?" RJD leaders and its two fiery national spokespersons, both women, have countered this acidulous barb, and accused that the law and order situation has "worsened" under the Nitish government in the past 20 years.

BJP-JD(U) keep harping on 'jungle raj', "trying to scare voters, because this is their narrative". If they had done something for people, especially the poor and the underprivileged, they would not have needed "this way to seek votes", RJD national spokesperson Priyanka Bharti has stressed multiple times in TV debates.

A section of residents in Patna, including old persons or adults in their 30s and 40s, who were either in schools, colleges or working in the capital city in the 1990s, said the law and order situation has "improved a lot" since then.

"You must have heard of the 'jungle raj' that was. We don't want to see the return of that misrule, we want safety and security," an 80-year-old man, who did not wish to be identified, said a day before the voting in Patna.

Political trend watchers said it is this sense of "voter anxieties" and a "baggage of the past" attached with RJD that its rivals capitalise on, drawing battlelines even in public memory.

At a rally in Jamui on Friday, Shah alleged that during the Lalu-Rabri rule, "criminals ran amok, kidnappings happened and massacres took place", and 'jungle raj' "shut factories and businesses, and impoverished Bihar".

On November 4, in an election rally in Darbhanga, he sought to "remind people of 'jungle raj', and appealed to them to choose the "lotus symbol to stop 'jungle raj'".

Shah told local masses, by "assuming a disguise", 'jungle raj' wants to stealthily come back, a reference to Mahagathbandhan's bid to wrest power from the NDA.

While this oft-repeated and often-in the-news term has assumed a different connotation today, many old-timers in Patna recall the phrase 'jungle raj' was used in 1997 by the high court while hearing a contempt petition concerning poor civic management in the city.

The phrase then hardened in public discourse and the label has since been used by public leaders, with greater political potency, to inflict both "moral and perception damage" in the rival camp.

"BJP is known for labelling and setting narratives. For them the entire Lalu rule was 'jungle raj', JNU is 'anti-national', only some families, whose members are in opposition parties, are dynasts, so this is a clear way to set a narrative for political gains," Gaya native Tarique Anwar alleged.

Anwar, 33, who identifies as a left-leaning person, is currently campaigning for a candidate in Jehanabad, which goes to polls on November 11.

"Yes, crimes did happen during Lalu rule, but to deny the empowerment of the marginalised to live and speak with dignity in a society that was fractured on caste lines is to deny a social reality.

"Also, the caste conflict in Bihar between Maoist groups and private upper-caste militias, such as the Ranvir Sena in the 1990s, were part of a power battle in the state that was under churn," he said.

"And, was the Paras Hospital murder incident in Patna or Muzaffarpur Balika Grih case, in recent years, not signs of 'jungle raj'," he asked.

Elections to the 121 seats of the 243-member assembly were held on November 6, while the remaining 122 constituencies will go to polls on November 11. The counting of votes will be held on November 14.

On the day of the election in Patna, Dr Shakil Kumar and his wife, Dr Anupam, after voting, told PTI that the law and order situation has improved, but allegedly a "lot of it is perception management also" through "selective media reporting of crime cases".

Despite horrific murders and crimes in Patna in the past two decades, "media today steers clear of using the term 'jungle raj' to describe the law and order situation, she said.

Media can help "build or destroy perception", and in today's world of social media, with just one hashtag, she argued. PTI KND SKY SKY