Nitish Kumar Set to Take CM's Oath for the Tenth Time; Gangster Anmol Bishnoi Arrested on Landing in India from US; Pakistan’s “Military Success” Over India Showcased Chinese Weaponry, Says US Panel

Air India Could Lose $455 Mn Due to Closure of Pakistani Airspace, Journalists' Bodies Express Concern Over Data Protection Rules, ‘Homebound is About How We Don’t Invest in Public Health, Education’

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Tanweer Alam, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Snapshot of the day

November 19, 2025

Sidharth Bhatia

Nitish Kumar today was elected legislature party leader of both his Janata Dal (United) and the NDA, after which he met governor Arif Mohammad Khan and staked his claim to form the next government in Bihar. He is set to take oath as chief minister – for the tenth time – tomorrow at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. Meanwhile, the JD(U)’s now-larger partner in the NDA, the BJP, has elected Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha as leader and deputy leader respectively of its legislature party in the state.

On the other end of the spectrum from the BJP and the JD(U) are Prashant Kishor and his Jan Suraaj Party, who won no seats during the assembly elections. He has said that his party never thought it would win less than 4% of the vote – it got only 3.5% – and that his decision not to contest “can be considered a mistake”. “We came to Bihar three years ago to change the system and made an honest effort, but we did not succeed … We couldn’t even change the government, but we have changed politics to some extent,” he was quoted as telling the Indian Express, adding that he will carry out a fast of silence tomorrow at the Bhitiharwa Gandhi Ashram in Champaran as ‘penance’.

Anmol Bishnoi, brother of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and who is accused of involvement in the murder of former Maharashtra MLA Baba Siddique, was arrested today after his arrival in India from the US, which has extradited him. A special court granted the National Investigation Agency 11 days’ custody of Bishnoi. The Hindu recalls that the anti-terror agency accuses him of running his brother’s gang from America, “coordinating with gang members in India, arranging shelter and logistics for shooters, and running extortion rackets from abroad”.

Pakistan’s “military success over India” during the two sides’ four-day-long military clashes in May “showcased” and served as a “real-world field experiment” for Chinese defence platforms such as the PL-15 air-to-air missile, the J-10 fighter jet and the HQ-9 air defence system, the US-China Economic and Security Review legislative commission has said in its latest annual report. It also noted that Islamabad’s “use of Chinese weapons to down French Rafale fighter jets used by India also became a particular selling point for Chinese embassy defence sales efforts”.

Even as both sides have claimed success in the clashes, US President Donald Trump continues to claim credit for stopping them. He did this once again on Tuesday during