Karpoori Thakur (1924–1988), born in a barber’s family in a village of Samastipur, rose to become twice Chief Minister of Bihar and was loved as Jan Nayak, “the people’s leader”. A socialist of austere honesty, he championed the poor and the backward classes; his 1978 reservation formula for Other Backward Classes recast Bihar’s politics for a generation and mentored leaders who would dominate it.
He pressed for education in the mother tongue, abolished fees that kept poor children out of school, and lived and died with almost no property. In 2024 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna — India’s highest civilian honour — confirming a legacy that still anchors the politics of Mithila and Bihar.