DNA Special: How Tejashwi Yadav’s ‘false’ promise of 10 lakh jobs in Bihar came back to haunt him

“Qasme vaade pyaar wafa sab, baatein hai baat ka kya.... Koi kisi ka nahi ye jhoote naate hai... naato ka kya…” This famous song is from the film Upkar released in the year 1967, but it holds very accurately in the current change in political dynamics in Bihar.

The relationships that we are talking about today are those of political leaders and parties and their changing alliances. Just as was insinuated by the song, political leaders often tend to forget the promises they make to the public while they are seeking votes for the elections.

Recently, the political scenario in Bihar saw a complete U-turn, soon after CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) broke off its partnership with BJP to join hands with foe-turned-friend RJD, appointing Tejashwi Yadav as the new Deputy Chief Minister of the state.

On August 10, a new grand alliance government was formed in Bihar under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav. Tejashwi Yadav reclaimed the deputy CM post in Bihar, but one of the promises he made to the public years ago has come to haunt him after the change in the alliance.

Tejashwi Yadav had promised in the manifesto released for the 2020 assembly elections that if the grand alliance government is formed, 10 lakh people will be given employment. After becoming the new Deputy CM of Bihar, Zee News had an exclusive conversation with Yadav.

When asked about giving employment to 10 lakh people, his answer was that he is not the Chief Minister of Bihar, saying that he would have fulfilled these promises when he became the CM. Now let’s take a look at what the 2020 election manifesto of RJD said on employment.

This manifesto has a picture of all the leaders of the grand alliance and the first promise to the public is that of employment. It has been promised that 4 lakh 50 thousand posts vacant in the NDA government will be filled, in addition to 5 lakh 50 thousand new posts in Bihar, adding up to 10 lakh new jobs.

The second promise related to employment was to give forms of government examinations for free. Along with this, free travel to the examination center has also been promised. Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav had also made a similar promise related to jobs in an election rally in 2020.

Migration is a big problem for Bihar. Migration is always linked to employment. If there are more employment opportunities in a state, then there is less migration there. Employment opportunities are very less in Bihar, so a large number of people go to other states. Now let's show some statistics you need to know.

The unemployment rate in Bihar is 21.2%, as of April 2022. This unemployment rate is the third highest in the country. These figures have been released by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt Ltd.

According to the Bihar government data, 4.5 lakh posts are vacant. Of these vacant posts, 1.5 lakh posts are for teachers. More than 50 thousand posts are vacant in the health department, in which there are paramedical staff and other technical posts.

Now, just as the unemployment rate in Bihar remains at its peak, the promise made by Tejashwi Yadav has come back to haunt him. The only thing to do now is to wait and see if the RJD leader will be able to deliver on his word, now that he is the Deputy CM of the state.

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