PATNA, July 7 -- The daring murder of a prominent businessman and 'BJP leader' Gopal Khemka in a busy and posh Patna locality in the close vicinity of residences of who's who of the district administration threatens to snowball into a major political issue ahead of upcoming Bihar election, just as law and order had become a prime issue following the abduction of a school boy Kislay, in 2005, to turn the tide against an otherwise invincible RJD. The Opposition has been targeting the law and order issue for months now, but political experts feel Khemka's murder could be the big trigger and ruling dispensation would find it tough in the face of the perception battle RJD, Congress and the Left parties are trying to build. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been focussing on Bihar like never before, was quick to call Bihar "the crime capital of India due to unbridled crime incidents". In a post on X, he said, "Crime is the new normal in Bihar and the government is totally helpless. Time has come for change in Bihar. This time vote not only to change the government, but to save Bihar." Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who visited Khemka's residence, asked where were the people who talked about 'Jungle Raj' and why the killers of Gopal Khemka's son Gunjan Khemka were still out of the clutch of police even after six years. "This is too much. I have been issuing crime bulletin everyday, but there is no impact. There was firing in front of my house which is adjacent to CM's house. Bihar has slipped into a precarious situation and there is no sensitivity left, forget about action. Every time the PM comes, he also refers to 'jungle Raj', but why does he not take account from his two Deputy CMs?" he asked. Tejashwi said had a similar incident happened during his government, he would have been skinned. "Here media is also involved in agenda setting and propaganda and doing great service to the state and the nation," he said at a party function in Patna. Tejashwi warned that he would tell his workers to boycott such media houses if they did not mend their ways. "Newspapers will not go to any village. They are doing the biggest disservice by not allowing truth to reach the people by running false propaganda," he added. JD(U) spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar, however, hit back, saying what Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi said was a reflection of their myopic thinking. "Rahul Gandhi should recall what his late father had said at a function in Bettiah - that there was a kidnapping industry running in Bihar. During RJD regime, everyone knows where crime syndicates operated from," he added. The JD(U) leader said the biggest USP of Nitish government had been law and order and if the anti-socials had challenged it, the police would take it to its logical end before too late. "Tejashwi should explain why he never spoke anything on law and order even when he was in the government and the likes of Raj Ballabh Yadav and Md Shahabuddin were also arrested. He makes Ritlal Yadav his MLA and opts for photoshoot with handcuffed Subhash Yadav in Koderma, but will not do any introspection," he added. It was in 2005, when former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee's "kahan hai mera Kislay (Where is my Kislay?)" remark at an election meeting at Bhagalpur had shaken the Bihar government and eventually paved the way for the end of the RJD regime after 15 years over the issue of law & order breakdown in Bihar. "Two decades later, RJD feels time may have come a full circle, as it has got increasingly aggressive on the law and order issue to build a perception that things had only got worse in comparison, and high profile murders would only lend strength to his argument and corner the government in the run up to election. Law and order has always been Nitish government's USP (unique selling point) and attack on it will hurt the government more than anything else," said Pushpendra, former professor at the Tata Institute of Spcial Sciences. He said with spurt in crime and big incidents, the government had lost the moral ground to browbeat the RJD with "jungle raj" comparison. "The features of crime have changed. It was abduction for ransom that created the atmosphere against the then RJD and now it is daily crime and high profile murders that are building a perception that the government would find hard to dispel," he added. Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor said the situation in Bihar would only get worse, as the government had lost its clout. "Crime and corruption are unbridled, as the officers are running the government. There is no difference between the jungle raj of RJD and Nitish era. The only difference is earlier criminals used to go berserk, and now officers have gone berserk," he added. Social analyst NK Choudhary said the primary function of the state had historically been to maintain law and order and defend from outside aggression. "Nitish government is fast losing the perception battle, as the state seems to be failing to discharge its primary duty in the eyes of the people. The basis of development is sound law and order, without which development will also be affected. It is unfortunate that Bihar is slipping into the turmoil it worked so hard to wriggle out," he added....