Tejashwi Yadav becomes more active in Bihar politics after election failure

After the Bankipore assembly election debacle, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav has become more active in Bihar politics. He visits the places where the incidents took place and meets the affected family members.

This can be gauged from the fact that on 19 August 2026, the main opposition party RJD called off the Lok Bhavan march after 11 years. The party took to the streets to protest against the government and raised issues such as the alleged firing of an AK-47 during a student protest in Bihar and paper leakage issues. The march was led by Mr. Yadav, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

The last Raj Bhavan march was organized in 2015 when party supremo Lalu Prasad demanded the release of the caste enumeration report based on the 2011 census. Later, the RJD remained active both in power and in opposition for a long time, but a mass protest of this magnitude was rarely seen.

Mr Yadav has been consistently attacking the government through press conferences and social media posts. However, it was after a long time that he was seen leading a foot march. In March 2021, Mr Yadav protested against a proposed government bill that would allow anyone to be detained without a warrant. Mr. Yadav was even arrested at that time.

He has engaged in political activities through several yatras such as Janadesh Apman Yatra (August 2017), Berozgari Hatao Yatra (February 2020), Voter Adhikar Yatra along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (August 2025) and several others. However, there was no major protest or movement to create an uproar among party workers and supporters. This time, Mr. Yadav along with his party MPs, MLAs and MLCs did not even mind facing water cannons during the Lok Bhavan march. Mr. Yadav was completely drenched from top to bottom.

The erstwhile ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (United) created a narrative that Tejashwi Yadav hardly remained active in Bihar politics. Many even said that he only issued press releases, held press conferences and used social media to reach out to people rather than doing any grassroots movement. Mr Yadav also skipped the entire monsoon session of the Bihar Assembly in July 2026, drawing sharp criticism from ruling party leaders.

“In the current political scenario, politics cannot be done by just issuing a press release and writing something on social media. This approach is no longer enough and physical presence is a must to remain in the minds of voters. The nature of protest among the youth is also changing and the so-called Gen Z is more inclined towards aggressive politics,” Sanjay Kumar, a political expert from Patna, told The Hindu.

He further said, “Tejashwi Yadav also needs to move beyond Lalu Prasad’s image of a righteous heir. His recent efforts to hit the streets and engage in direct struggle are seen as part of this strategy. Especially after the humiliating defeat in the Bankipur assembly elections in which the RJD came third and his traditional vote (Muslims and Yadavs) shifting their political loyalties to the Jan2 Suraaj party and the 25th council elections.”

Mr. Yadav now spends more time meeting people and students in hospitals who were injured in the police lathi charge. He also met the vendors of the public distribution system who protested with their demands. The former deputy chief minister also visited his constituency Raghopur to inspect the flood-hit areas. He visited Darbhanga where a man from the Muslim community was murdered.

Not only that, he met the parents of a youth who was allegedly killed in police custody in Madhubani district jail. In the past week, he has made more than a dozen visits to various locations to check ground realities and meet affected family members.

People respect him even after his personal meeting with the leader of the opposition and hope that he will continue to do so, and not just for now. Even the leaders of his own political party are happy. One of the senior leaders even said, requesting anonymity, that the sleeping leader had woken up.

Days after facing defeat in the by-election, Mr Yadav, who is also the party’s national working president, dissolved all RJD committees from block to district level, which will be reconstituted soon.

Published – 28 Aug 2026 19:20 IST