PATNA, April 15 -- With the resignation of Nitish Kumar as the longest-serving Bihar chief minister, an era has ended as one of the last socialist giants is now moving to national politics through the corridors of the Rajya Sabha - the only Legislative House that he didn't tread into in his long and illustrious political journey that birthed in the JP Movement of 1974. A key feature of Nitish's political career was that whenever he was written off, he bounced back. He honed this into an acumen, mastering the craft of navigating and swimming across the labyrinth of coalitions - an ability that earned him the distinction of taking oaths as CM for a record 10 times. This occurred despite several flip-flops in choosing alliance partners. His propensity to shift alliances and easily alter or subdue his party's political philosophy for political expediency even established a catchphrase "Nitish sabke hain" (Nitish is for everyone). Above everything, his claim to fame is the transformation of Bihar from the backwaters of backwardness to a state that fixed many of its ills and put itself on an aspirational track. Anjani Kumar Singh, director general of the Bihar Museum, who was the chief secretary of Bihar until 2018 and later served as the CM's advisor until recently, said that Nitish Kumar would be remembered as an institution builder and the man who understood and worked for the importance of women-led development. "His tenure has been both historic and unprecedented in more ways than one. He worked to remove ingrained gender bias and focused on priorities like education, health and infrastructure. During his time, Bihar witnessed the building of many institutions and the launch of new initiatives," he added. Another of Nitish's close colleagues and confidantes, Sanjay Kumar Jha, JD(U)'s working president and Rajya Sabha MP, said that Nitish will be an indelible memory for Bihar and there will be no one like him for the state. "He will continue to inspire generations, and history will judge him better for the sheer transformation that Bihar witnessed under him after reaching a stage of hopelessness. No wonder, his popularity only increased with time, as even those who did not vote for him also appreciated his work," he added. Jha's views are also largely echoed among common people of Bihar. They view Nitish Kumar as a leader who ensured the basics like roads, bridges, electricity, infrastructure in a state where these were considered luxuries for a large population and who did a lot for women's empowerment. Another JD(U) leader and cabinet colleague of Nitish, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, reminisces that soon after coming to power, Nitish rolled out a 'cycle scheme' that continues even today. "Soon after taking charge in 2005, he introduced a 'cycle scheme', which gave wings to girls and today the result is gender parity in a state where they hardly moved out of their homes earlier. He backed it up with reservation for women in jobs and sowed the seeds for women-led development right from the grassroots level. His vision and passion have been matchless," said Choudhary....