Bihar boasts of one of the most fascinating political histories in India. As the state heads to Assembly polls this month, The Indian Express brings a series of articles that tell the history of Bihar politics through the tenure of its 23 chief ministers. This article tells the story of Bindeshwari Dubey, Bihar’s 17th CM. You can click here to read about his predecessor, Chandrashekhar Singh. The next edition will focus on his successor, Bhagwat Jha Azad.
When Chandrashekhar Singh’s government took charge in Bihar, it was already beset by serious allegations of casteism and administrative inefficiency. The influential faction led by former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra seized every opportunity to attack him, often publicly. Despite the Congress (I) party securing a comfortable majority in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination—winning 196 out of 324 assembly seats—the leadership in New Delhi was dissatisfied with the state’s direction and began searching for Singh’s successor.
The 1985 assembly elections were marred by violence, with at least sixty-three people, including four candidates, losing their lives during the poll process. As the Congress high command weighed its options for new leadership, Jagannath Mishra himself was among the hopefuls, but the party was determined to look elsewhere. Before the crucial meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Patna, Bansi Lal, then Union Minister of Railways and a former Chief Minister of Haryana, was dispatched as an observer by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) to oversee the election of the new CLP leader.
After consulting legislators and factional leaders, Bansi Lal announced that the majority opinion favoured Bindeshwari Dubey, an MLA from the Shahpur constituency in Bhojpur district. Shahpur holds symbolic importance in Bihar’s political history—it has been represented across three generations of the socialist leader Shivanand Tiwari’s family: his father Ramanand Tiwari served five terms, Shivanand himself twice, and his son Rahul Tiwari has won twice and will be contesting for the third time in 2025.
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At 67, Bindeshwari Dubey took oath as the Chief Minister on March 12, 1985, raising hopes of political stability in a state that had seen two chief ministers—Jagannath Mishra and Chandrashekhar Singh—during the previous 1980–85 assembly term. Dubey’s rise was unconventional. Once a student of engineering at Bihar College of Engineering (now the National Institute of Technology, Patna where incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar studied), he abandoned his studies to join the Quit India Movement in 1942. His political journey began with a by-election shortly after the first general elections of 1952.
During those first elections in 1952, Raja Kamakhya Narain Singh of Ramgarh had contested from five assembly constituencies—Bagodar, Patarbar, Gomia, Barkagaon, and Giridih-cum-Dumri—under the banner of the Chhota Nagpur and Santhal Pargana Janata Party. After winning four of them, he vacated three seats, including Patarbar. Congress seized the opportunity to field a young and energetic Bindeshwari Dubey from there, marking his entry into the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
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Over the next three decades, Dubey became a fixture of state politics. Though he lost the Bermo seat in 1957, he returned to the assembly in 1962, 1967, 1969, and 1972, representing the Congress party. After a brief electoral setback in 1977 in the Janata Party wave, he was again elected in 1985 from Shahpur. Before that, he represented Giridih in the Lok Sabha between 1980 and 1984. His stronghold lay in the coal belt of southern Bihar, where he built deep connections as a trade union leader among colliery workers. He served as the state chief of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), and later as its national president, earning a reputation as a grassroots organiser and labour leader.
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However, Dubey’s tenure as Chief Minister was soon overshadowed by rising crime and caste-based violence. Incidents like the Dalelchak-Bhagaura massacre of 1987 in Aurangabad district and the Pararia mass rape case of 1988 in Deoghar became infamous symbols of lawlessness in Bihar. The state was gripped by the growing menace of mafia networks, kidnappings, and gang wars. In response, Dubey’s government launched several campaigns to curb organised crime, including operations against kidnappers, dacoits and mafia. Yet, these efforts yielded little visible change.
In an interview with journalist Farzand Ahmed for India Today as chief minister, Dubey defended his administration, saying, “Rome was not built in a day, but my government is committed to changing the face of Bihar.” Despite his earnestness, the mounting public disillusionment and deteriorating law and order eroded his credibility.
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Meanwhile, the Congress party was facing internal turbulence at the national level. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, still relatively new to leadership after his mother’s assassination, was confronting revolts in several Congress-ruled states. The party’s Working President, Kamalapati Tripathi, was also under pressure. Within Bihar, Jagannath Mishra, who had initially supported Dubey’s appointment only to prevent Chandrashekhar Singh’s continuation, began openly criticising Chief Minister Dubey.
At the time, Dumar Lal Baitha served as the state Congress president, but his inability to control factional infighting became the subject of ridicule. Opponents, both within and outside the Congress, coined a mocking slogan: “Dubeyji doob gaye, aur Baithaji baith gaye” (Dubey has drowned, and Baitha has sat idle). In an effort to maintain balance, Dubey’s cabinet included several ministers from the Mishra camp, yet this failed to pacify his rival. Mishra even launched a signature campaign urging the Congress high command to replace Dubey.
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The national situation compounded Dubey’s troubles. In April 1987, Defence Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh resigned from Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet, later quitting the Congress altogether. His departure ignited a wave of dissent that resonated across states. VP Singh’s anti-corruption crusade by raising the issue of Bofors Deal and growing popularity posed a serious threat to the Congress. Rajiv Gandhi tried to contain the damage through cabinet reshuffles and by changing chief ministers in various states, but discontent persisted.
In Bihar, the Congress high command was particularly displeased with the mishandling of the devastating floods of 1987 and allegations of corruption in the distribution of relief funds. As the 1989 Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in states including Bihar loomed, the leadership feared that Dubey’s unpopularity might harm the party’s prospects.
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By early February 1988, whispers of a change in Bihar’s leadership grew louder. Rajiv Gandhi began consulting his ministers, AICC general secretaries, and several state chief ministers to identify replacements. Among the names considered were Bihar Assembly Speaker Shiv Chandra Jha, veteran MP and ex-union minister Bhagwat Jha Azad, former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, and controversial ex-Union Minister K.K. Tewary. Even Governor Bhishma Narain Singh was briefly mentioned as a potential compromise candidate. However, the party preferred to retain a Brahmin chief minister in Bihar to balance caste equations, since neighbouring Uttar Pradesh already had a Rajput CM, Bir Bahadur Singh.
Sensing the inevitable, Bindeshwari Dubey sought divine intervention, reportedly visiting Deoraha Baba in Vrindavan to seek blessings. Yet, political fortune did not favour him. He was asked to resign. On February 13, 1988, Bhagwat Jha Azad was sworn in as the new Chief Minister, marking the end of Dubey’s almost three-year tenure.
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Dubey’s downfall reflected not only the instability of Bihar’s politics during the 1980s but also the internal decay of the Congress organisation. Despite his sincerity and mass base among workers, he could not overcome the entrenched factionalism, caste divisions, and criminalisation that had begun to define the state’s political landscape.
Dubey was later called to Delhi and sent to Rajya Sabha. He was later appointed the Union Minister of Labour, and later, the Union Minister of Law and Justice.
His legacy remains that of a committed trade unionist and freedom fighter whose administrative era was overwhelmed by the turbulence of his times. He passed away in January 1993.
Next: Bhagwat Jha Azad
