India, Oct. 31 -- The NDA manifesto ("Sankalpa Patra"), released Friday, three days after the Mahagathbandhan's "Bihar Ka Tejashwi Pran" (Bihar's Tejashwi Resolve), confirms a trend that Hindustan Times pointed to earlier this week. After being in the grip of the Mandal paradigm for close to four decades, politics in Bihar appears to be transcending it to embrace a governance agenda, a kind of caste-plus politics, that suggests the rise of a caste neutral aspirational class. In this respect, the NDA and Mahagathbandhan manifestos have much in common. Both alliances recognise that employment is a big issue, and in a state deeply impacted by out-migration, that voters are no longer satisfied with caste empowerment but expect their politicia...