‘Tiger abhi zinda hai’: Poster outside Nitish residence as NDA surges ahead in Bihar polls

A striking poster featuring Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar standing beside a tiger, captioned boldly ‘tiger abhi zinda hai’ (tiger is alive), appeared outside his residence on Friday morning, just as the NDA opened up a clear early lead in the assembly elections.

The poster, cinematic in its framing and unmistakably designed to project authority, quickly became a magnetic point for cameras and cadre alike.

It went up at around the same time the Election Commission began flashing the day’s first substantive trends.

The ruling NDA was ahead in 111 assembly seats, as compared to 33 of the opposition INDIA bloc, according to trends available on the Election Commission’s website.

The BJP was leading in 48 seats, the JD(U) in 44, LJP (Ram Vilas) in 13 and HAM in three. The RJD was leading in 23 seats, the Congress in seven and the Vikassheel Insaan Party in one.

JD(U) workers gathered around the poster as if unveiling a victory totem ahead of time.

“’Sirf trend aaya hai, par message clear hai, Nitish ji politics ka asli tiger hain’, (the trends are only out, Nitish ji is the real tiger of Bihar politics),” one worker told a news channel, posing proudly beside the larger-than-life artwork.

The image of Kumar standing calmly, while a tiger crouches beside him reinforced a long-running political metaphor JD(U) supporters invoke whenever questions over his political longevity emerge.

Vehicles slowed to take photographs; some residents stepped out just to see “the tiger poster” making the rounds on social media.

As Bihar geared up for the long day ahead, one visual set the tone early: Nitish Kumar, shoulder-to-shoulder with a tiger, casting an unmistakable message that the “tiger”, at least for his supporters, was very much alive.