India, April 11 -- After weeks of political uncertainty in Bihar, a date has finally emerged: April 14. Nitish Kumar, who took oath as a Rajya Sabha MP on Friday, April 10, is learnt to be resigning as Bihar Chief Minister on that day, setting the stage for the state's first BJP CM, and the end of a two-decade-long political era defined by one man.

April 14 is no ordinary day on the calendar, for both political meanings and otherwise. It marks the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the architect of India's Constitution and a towering icon of the Dalit rights movement, hence the choice of the date carries symbolism in Bihar's deeply caste-conscious landscape.

But there is another purported reason spoken in somewhat hushed tones. The perio...