Nitish Kumar Biography, Early Life, Career, Personal Life, Age 2025, Rise to Power, Controversies

Nitish Kumar Biography – Think about this for a second: a soft-spoken electrical engineer from a small town in Bihar spends forty years in politics, flips alliances more often than most people change phones, yet still ends up as the longest-serving Chief Minister in the state’s history taking oath for the tenth time on November 20, 2025. That’s not luck. That’s Nitish Kumar.

He is the man who dragged Bihar out of kidnapping headlines and put it on the growth charts. Love him or hate him, you can’t write modern Bihar’s story without putting Nitish right in the middle. So let’s walk through the real journey no sugar-coating, no boring textbook style just the story of a man who refused to let his state stay broken.

Profile

• Full Name: Nitish Kumar
• Date Of Birth: Born on March 1, 1951
• Birthplace: Bakhtiarpur
• Family: (Father) Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh, (Mother) Parmeshwari Devi, (Wife) Manju Kumari Sinha
• Profession: Politician

Early Life and Family Roots

Born on March 1, 1951, in Bakhtiarpur  a dusty little town in present-day Nalanda district, Nitish Kumar grew up in a house where freedom-fighter stories were dinner-table conversation. His father, Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh, was an Ayurvedic doctor and Congress worker who fought against the British but was denied a ticket in 1952. That rejection planted the first seed of rebellion in young Nitish.

His mother, Parmeshwari Devi, ran the home with quiet strength. Simple middle-class Kurmi family, no silver spoon, no political dynasty waiting in the wings. Nitish used to cycle kilometres to school, eat chuda-dahi during Makar Sankranti, and listen to his father talk about Gandhi and socialism. Those evenings shaped him more than any coaching class ever could.

Fun fact most people don’t know: when he got married in 1973 to Manju Kumari Sinha, a Kayastha school teacher, he found out a ₹22,000 dowry had been paid. He made the family return every single rupee the very next day. That stubborn honesty? It started at home.

Education

Nitish wasn’t the kid who bunked classes to watch movies. He was the guy who topped school, went to Patna Science College, and then earned his electrical engineering degree from Bihar College of Engineering (now NIT Patna) in 1972.

People forget he actually worked yes, a real 9-to-5 job at the Bihar State Electricity Board. Imagine Nitish Kumar in a government office, checking transformers and writing reports. That engineering brain never left him. When he later built roads, laid power lines across villages, and obsessed over data in governance, that disciplined, problem-solving mindset came straight from those early years fixing electrical grids.

First Steps into Politics

The real fire caught in 1974. Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) launched the Total Revolution movement against Indira Gandhi, and Nitish, barely 23, jumped in head-first. He organised students, led protests, got arrested during Emergency, and spent months in jail under MISA.

When he came out, something had changed. He wasn’t just an engineer anymore he was a socialist with scars. He joined the Janata Party, became president of Yuva Lok Dal in Bihar, and won his first assembly election from Harnaut in 1985, and never really looked back.

George Fernandes spotted the quiet Kurmi boy who could mobilise OBCs without shouting. That friendship would later birth the Samata Party in 1994 the vehicle that finally gave extremely backward classes a real voice against Lalu Prasad’s Yadav-centric politics.

Rise to Power

Nitish served as Union Railway Minister twice under Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998–99 and 2001–04) and actually modernised Indian Railways. Internet ticket booking? Started under him. Tatkal scheme? His brainchild. Kisan Rail specials? Again, Nitish.

But Bihar was bleeding in 2005 kidnapping industry, zero investment, “jungle raj” headlines every day. Lalu Prasad’s fifteen years had turned the state into a national joke.

Nitish allied with BJP, fought the 2005 election on pure governance agenda, and won. On November 24, 2005, he took oath as Chief Minister for the second time (the first was a disastrous 7-day stint in 2000). This time he meant business.

He has now taken oath ten times the latest on November 20, 2025 after NDA’s massive victory (JD(U) 85, BJP 89, others adding up to 202 seats in a 243-member house). Ten times. Let that sink in.

The Bihar Turnaround

Let’s do some real talk. In 2005, Bihar’s growth rate was embarrassing. By 2011–12 it was the second-fastest growing state in India. That didn’t happen by accident.

He built over 1,00,000 km of paved roads. Villages that never saw tar before 2005 got electricity. Female literacy, which was stuck at pathetic levels, almost doubled because he gave girls bicycles to go to school simple idea, revolutionary impact.

50% reservation for women in panchayats in 2006 ten years before anyone else even talked about women’s reservation properly. Prohibition in 2016 to protect women from alcoholic husbands controversial, leaky, but bold.

He appointed 1,00,000 teachers in one go, regularised another 2,00,000, built thousands of schools, opened medical colleges in every district, and started the Jeevika programme that turned rural women into entrepreneurs.

Crime?, He locked up the big fish. Fast-track courts, Special Auxiliary Police made of ex-army men, and suddenly kidnapping for ransom disappeared from Page 1.

Say what you want about his politics, but the man delivered governance when Bihar had forgotten what the word meant.

Controversies

Yes, he flips alliances like pancakes. Left NDA in 2013 over Modi. Joined hands with Lalu in 2015. Dumped Lalu in 2017. Joined Lalu again in 2022. Dumped him again in January 2024. Stuck with NDA and won 2025.

“Paltu Kumar” or “Paltu Ram” became a national meme. Even PM Modi joked about it once or twice before 2024.

Then there are the gaffes that infamous 2023 speech where he tried explaining population control through women’s education but ended up sounding crude. Had to apologise in the assembly. The 2025 “bindi” remark about Rabri Devi?.

But here’s the thing nobody says out loud: every single flip was followed by development work. People punish dynasty, casteism, corruption they don’t punish governance. Bihar keeps voting him back because the roads work, schools function, and girls can study without fear.

Personal Life

Nitish Kumar lost his wife, Manju Kumari Sinha, to pneumonia in 2007. Those who know him say he has never been the same since. He still visits the park built in her memory in Patna. They had one son, Nishant, a low-profile, spiritual guy who stays miles away from politics despite constant media speculation.

Nitish lives simply vegetarian, teetotaller (obviously), wakes up early, reads newspapers with a marker in hand. He loves gardening and still enjoys riding bicycles when security allows. At 74, the man has more energy than most 40-year-olds in politics.

There is no scandal, no Swiss account, no benami property empire. In a state famous for corruption, that itself is a miracle.

Conclusion

On November 20, 2025, when Nitish Kumar took oath for the tenth time at Gandhi Maidan with PM Modi, Amit Shah, and half the NDA leadership watching, something became clear: history will not remember him as the man who never flipped. It will remember him as the man who refused to let Bihar stay failed.

He is not perfect. He is not ideologically pure. But he is the reason your daughter can ride a bicycle to school in Nalanda without fear. He is the reason investors finally look at Bihar without laughing. He is the reason an entire generation of Biharis grew up believing governance is possible.

That’s the real Nitish Kumar biography not the memes, not the U-turn jokes, but the stubborn, boring, relentless work of a quiet engineer who decided one day that his state deserved better.

 FAQs

How many times has Nitish Kumar been Chief Minister of Bihar?

As of November 2025, ten times the only person in India to achieve this feat.

Why do people call him “Paltu Ram” or “Paltu Kumar”?

Because of his multiple alliance changes (four major flips since 2013. Critics use it to mock him; supporters say he does whatever it takes to keep development going.

What is Nitish Kumar’s educational qualification?

B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Bihar College of Engineering (now NIT Patna), 1972 batch.

Who is Nitish Kumar’s son and does he join politics?

Nishant Kumar, a low-key, spiritually inclined engineer-turned-businessman. He has repeatedly stayed away from politics despite constant media pressure.

What is the one policy Nitish is most proud of?

The free bicycle scheme for schoolgirls and 50% reservation for women in panchayats both started in 2006–07 and both completely transformed rural Bihar’s social fabric.