Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar might have scored a self-goal by providing statistical proof that his State lags far behind in crime rate as compared to those such as Madhya Pradesh. However, controlling spiralling crime rate goes beyond statistics. This certainly is not the way out for a politician to pride himself on past records of good governance. Nitish Kumar's retort that people who ridiculed the jungle raj lost the election big, is unwarranted, because there is an unmistakable political tinge in every killing that has shook the State. But what must ruffle the Chief Minister is his own alliance partners taking a dig at his inability to stem the rot.
Some loose cannons among his ministerial colleagues are not making life easy for him. It should not be difficult for him to decipher why the crime rate has shot up in his third stint as the Chief Minister. Nitish Kumar has to send the right signals on his firm conviction to establish law and order in Bihar, and on his intent to put crime in its place.