(This is the eleventh in a series of insightful reports from the ground, titled The Race From India to Bharat. The author travels all across India as 960 million voters get ready to celebrate the largest festival of democracy in the world: the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. What do ordinary Indians think and feel about the past, present, and future of India? Are they convinced that the old fault lines are healing?)
(Read part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here, part five here, part six here, part seven here, part eight here, part nine here, and part ten here.)
The moment you enter Patna, there is a sense of relief since you have left Siwan after a four-hour spell of interacting with people about the adventures of the late gangster-politician Mohammed Shahabuddin. Across Patna, there are huge cutouts and posters of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. I didn’t find any with Narendra Modi starring along with Nitish Kumar. Perhaps I missed them. The drive from the outskirts of Patna to the hotel was surprisingly smooth.
After checking in, the author decided to take a stroll on the streets, talking to people and shooting the breeze. After all, people in Bihar may be deprived of most of the benefits of a rapidly growing India, but they don't lose their enormous enthusiasm for debates, not just on politics, but also the war in Ukraine, or the chances of Donald Trump becoming the president of the United States.