The sudden rise in crime in immediate post-election weeks––which includes murder of three engineers of private firms in two different incidents in three days––is not the first such phenomenon of its kind in Nitish Kumar’s Bihar.

The state witnessed a steep rise in cases of killing, dacoity, murder, kidnapping, rape, extortion etc in December 2010, that is a month after the Assembly election of October-November that year.

The administrative machinery was taken by complete surprise. It reached its climax when on January 4, 2011 the lady principal of a private school of Purnea, Rupam Pathak, stabbed to death local BJP MLA, Raj Kishore Kesari, at his home in the town.

She was almost lynched by BJP supporters, yet after recovering Rupam said she had no regret in committing this crime as, according to her, Kesari and his aide Bhola Rai repeatedly raped her and even had an evil eye on her grown-up daughter.

Hours after the killing of MLA, the then deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that she used to blackmail Kesari.

On the other hand women groups, including All India Democratic Women’s Association, led by its president, Subhashni Ali, came out strongly in her favour and denounced Sushil Modi for his statement. They took to the streets to protest rise in crime, especially against women.

Rupam’s crime may fall in a different category but since it involved a ruling party MLA, some serious questions were raised. Another woman too became a victim of such political highhandedness in the district. But her case was not highlighted much.

It was only after some tough measures taken by the government that the law and order situation somewhat improved a couple of months later.

In contrast to the 2010 Assembly election the law and order did improve just after the 2005 Assembly election when Nitish came to power after 15 years of Lalu-Rabri raj.

A big question arises: Why the same Nitish-SuMo team was caught napping after the Assembly election in 2010?

The answer is simple: when the same party or alliance is voted back to power crime rises after the election. When there is change of government it does not.

When Nitish came to power in 2005 he came with the promise of improving law and order situation. He did take some actions and in the first couple of years succeeded. Some old gangs were smashed, put behind bars and tried in fast track courts.

But later the situation started deteriorating. New gangs and criminals emerged. The New Excise Policy, which came into effect on July 1, 2007 led to the sharp rise in crime against women––though within the four-walls of the houses. Therefore, they largely went unreported as rarely did the victim dare to lodge FIR against the perpetrators, as they were their own close relatives.

Criminal gangs often strike in the immediate post-poll weeks because the administrative machinery and police take time to settle after conducting a prolong election process. They usually lower their guard after getting over-stretched during the election. Some times DMs, SPs and other officials transferred by the Election Commission before poll are restored to their old posts.

As criminal gangs are well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the same old government no time is better to strike than the immediate post-poll weeks.

The rise in crime has provided the BJP enough ammunition to fire on the state government. By invoking the fear of return of Jungle Raj its strategy is to drive a wedge between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, who on Tuesday expressed concern over the present state of affairs.

An upset chief minister on Monday did something unprecedented. He asked the director general of police, P K Thakur, and other top police officials to leave his chamber, where they had assembled for a meeting.

The ruling alliance is hopeful that like in 2010 the government would finally succeed in checking crime.