Development has turned out to be the sole issue that mattered in the Bihar assembly elections. This is arguably the first time when voters have chosen development over narrow considerations. Is this is sign of changing times?

The term ‘good governance’ has been around in the lexicon of Indian politics for more than a decade now. Remember the BJP slogan, “from Swaraj to Su-raj”? Moreover, after winning assembly or parliamentary elections, it has become a norm to credit ‘good governance’ for the victory (it sounds nicer than giving credit to caste calculations, use of muscle power, paid publicity and other actual factors). In countless political rallies, we have heard of the BSP factor – bijli, sadak and pani – even as the leaders scrambled to take care of all real factors that mattered.

But in Bihar, we have seen genuine good governance leading to a dramatic victory. If Bihar, as they say, is a microcosm of India (or India is to the world what Bihar is to India), does today’s result signal the changing preference of the Indian voter?