RAJGIR: In this historical town, named thus as it served as the first capital of the Magadha Empire, it's impossible to walk 25m without being reminded of the chief minister. Nitish Kumar is on electric poles, he's on billboards, he's on walls overlooking intersections, he's on balloons... he's also on the side of the buses ferrying the eight Asia Cup teams between the venue and the team hotels.
It's very much election season in Bihar and you are reminded of it whether you seek it or not. On the front pages of the newspapers, there's multiple pieces on the state election (it's expected to go to the polls across phases in October and November). The morning news on the radio had tidbits about it. The cabbie at Patna airport spoke about the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of the polls.
And, slap bang in the middle of it all, is the Asia Cup, with one World Cup spot up for grabs.
Hosting international hockey meets used to be the exclusive domain of Bhubaneswar but Tamil Nadu (one; men's Asian Champions Trophy), Ranchi (one; women's Olympic qualifiers) and Bihar (one; women's Asian Champions Trophy before the ongoing tournament) have hosted international competitions over the last few years. It shows hockey in a good light in that state governments want to use it as a tool to unite the hoi polloi.
Tamil Nadu significantly upgraded their existing infrastructure at Chennai to host that event in 2023. In two months' time, they will welcome a part of the hockey community for the junior World Cup in Chennai and Madurai (the stadium there is expected to be completed by the end of September). Ranchi has always had a hockey culture and welcomed the women's team in 2024. Now, Odisha (one of the biggest sponsors of both hockey teams) is expected to play host but the expanding hockey footprint across the country is hard to ignore.
Why is Bihar hosting this event? Raveendran Sankaran, an IPS officer tasked with changing the face of the state's sporting ecosystem -- his official designation is DG, Bihar State Sports Authority -- does understand why the elections have been hyphenated with that of the Asia Cup but 'I beg to differ'. "It (decision to host it) wasn't election oriented," he says. "This event was decided on the back of the women's ACT. After that meet, Hockey India approached us. That day itself, we spoke to the government."
The tournament, Sankaran says, is linked to Bihar wanting to reestablish themselves on India's inequitable sporting map. "Sport has become a priority for the state of Bihar," the Coimbatore-raised bureaucrat says. "If this tournament had happened in haste, you can say it's because of elections. But we have been doing it for over two years now."
Under Sankaran's watch -- it was considered a punishment posting when he accepted the gig in 2022 -- the state sports budget has jumped from `30cr to over `680cr. They have also hosted other events and are betting big on infra to transform Rajgir, a town with a lot of symbolism and cultural heritage but little in terms of sport, as a sporting destination. The hockey venue, for example, sits in a giant but cutely designed sprawling 99.7 acre sporting complex built at the cost of `600cr. There's also a cricket stadium being constructed inside the premises.
The message, though, is hard to miss. Using sport for the purposes of generating wider goodwill. And Bihar is the latest in a long line of states to do this over the last few years.
Just to drive home the point, the CM's face is plastered on a hoarding that rises gently above the stadium's North Stand. It's edited -- either by design or chance -- in such a way that he's a match-going fan, looking at the field of play with interest and enthusiasm.