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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Bihar is emerging from the caste shadow
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Bihar is emerging from the caste shadow

Casteism continues to be an underlying theme of Bihar politics but jobs, aspirations, growth are taking precedence

People have a choice of what they want—Narendra Modi’s development or Nitish Kumar’s governance. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/MintPremium
People have a choice of what they want—Narendra Modi’s development or Nitish Kumar’s governance. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

Rajgir, Garkha, Agiaon (Bihar): For 30-year-old Munna Thakur of Agiaon constituency in Bhojpur district, there is no substitute for development, which he believes to be the only item on the agenda in the ongoing assembly elections in Bihar.

“Development is the real issue in this election. Both the alliances have formed their caste combinations to win, but all political parties are contesting on the issue of development. This is the first time in Bihar that there is a debate on development. People have a choice of what they want—the development model of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the development schemes of (chief minister) Nitish Kumar," said Thakur, who runs a small family-owned paan shop in Narainpur village.

His constituency is among the 50 falling in the districts of Patna, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Saran, Vaishali and Buxar that will go to the polls in the third phase of the elections on 28 October.

If indeed Thakur’s claim does pan out across the rest of the state, then the electoral narrative in Bihar is poised for a rewrite.

In the 2010 assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 18 of the 50 seats that go to polls on Wednesday, while the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), had 23 seats and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) got the remaining nine seats.

“We lived like rats, but when Nitish Kumar came to power, he initiated the idea of development. We don’t get the 15 kg of rice or 10 kg of wheat, which were promised, and the village roads are broken, but we’re confident that we can go up to Nitish to complain," said 80-year-old Shri Paswan, who works as a daily wage labourer in Banwaripur Mora village in Biharsharif constituency.

Political analysts argue that the poll focus on development is an outcome of growing aspirations for, among other things, rapid job creation.

“The old model of Bihar was about populism and caste. It was the model of (former chief minister) Lalu Prasad. This time, it is about Modi’s model of development with emphasis on law and order and Nitish Kumar’s model which focuses on governance. People, especially the youngsters want development. So the theme of the election is choice between Modi’s development agenda and Kumar’s governance," said Shiv Visvanathan, social scientist and professor at Sonipat, Haryana-based Jindal School of Government and Public Policy.

Though development has emerged as a key factor, the traditional fault lines of caste and religion persist. Both the grand alliance of the JD(U) and RJD and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) continue to play them up.

Mandal vs Kamandal

“If the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes to power, we will bring a law to stop cow slaughter in the state, and there will be 10 years’ imprisonment for it... Dalits will not vote for the grand alliance this time. The support of Mandal and Kamandal is with BJP," said Sushil Kumar Modi, former deputy chief minister of Bihar, during a public meeting in Garkha, a reserved constituency, in Saran district.

Sushil Kumar Modi’s word-play referred to two vote banks—Dalits and the upper-caste Hindus. B.P. Mandal headed a commission, which recommended increases in job and education quota for other backward classes (OBC), the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Kamandal, by contrast, is a water pot carried by ascetics that is also a symbol of high-caste Hindus.

Although both alliances were quick to grab the issue of banning cow slaughter in the state, it has had little traction for any party. “Caste has greater prominence in Bihar than religion. In this election too, caste will play a major role. While development is the most important demand of people, caste will hold the key to who will win the Bihar polls," said Bablu Kumar Chandravanshi, 32, a member of the OBC community in Sonepur constituency.

One issue that has assumed significance in the polls is caste-based job quotas. After a section of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological mentor, argued for a rethink, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad sought to paint a narrative of the BJP as anti-Dalit.

“Reservation had very little influence in the Bihar polls initially. Both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad tried very hard to use it but it was not working. But when the RSS spoke about it, it got registered in the minds of Dalits. Whenever there is rise of kamandal politics, it leads to Mandal politics," said Chandra Bhan Prasad, writer and a leading Dalit intellectual.

BJP, often accused of being a party of “upper caste", has also attempted to rework its caste calculations by forging an alliance with former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who belongs to the Dalit community.

Two other Dalit leaders from Bihar, Ram Vilas Paswan and Upendra Kushwaha, are Union cabinet ministers.

“I dare the BJP to remove reservation," Lalu Prasad tweeted.

Prasad has spoken in favour of reservation in all his public meetings so far and wants it to be increased.

Reflecting the prominence of caste in its election campaign, the grand alliance has given a chunk of 130 seats to OBC candidates, 33 to Muslims and 24 to Dalits.

Political analysts point out that the BJP has been unable to blend Mandal and Kamandal politics in Bihar because it lacks a prominent local leader.

“BJP was able to do it in Uttar Pradesh under Kalyan Singh, and it is evident in Madhya Pradesh where Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a three-time chief minister. Chouhan is a member of OBC. But the case is not the same in Bihar because the state leadership is not prominent like in other states," said Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst.

The BJP, which has been traditionally supported by the upper castes in Bihar, has fielded over 75 candidates from the general category, including 39 Rajputs, 19 Bhumihars and 13 Brahmins. In addition, the party has given 65 tickets to OBC candidates.

Rajputs, Brahmins and Bhumihars are the upper castes who view the entire idea of positive discrimination with suspicion.

Ajit Kumar, a 22-year-old Bhumihar (land owner) from Sithaura village in Rajgir, is one such man. “I dropped out of school after Class 12 because I had realised that I will not get a job; so I must not waste my father’s money by spending it on education. Government jobs will be given on the basis of caste-based reservation, so I will not get it. People, who get less marks, get preference in government jobs because of caste reservation but people who work hard and get goods marks don’t get selected," said Kumar.

Unemployment and migration

Yet, while caste matters, it is also a fact that the people of Bihar now seek local development which, they hope, will address and help fulfil their aspirations. The lack of local jobs, for instance, leads to men from poor households to migrate to other states, tearing up families.

Sarita Devi, 35, who belongs to a scheduled caste, has only one wish: to see her family reunited. Living in a small village, Banwaripur Mora in Biharsharif constituency, with her in-laws and four children, Sarita wants her husband and the three other men in her family to return home.

“My husband and brothers-in-law have all gone to other states to find work. We live alone here; the village has only old people and kids. There are not many men in the village; most of them have gone to work in other states. Why can’t there be more jobs in Bihar so that the entire family is together?" said Sarita Devi, who works as a daily wage labourer to make ends meet.

Acknowledging this, the BJP has promised local jobs in the election campaign.

“The fact is that there are no international-standard universities in Bihar. It is also a fact that the youth, who goes out to study, why will they come back when they get better job opportunities outside the state? We are not only losing educated manpower but also money. Why is it that people have to go to Delhi or Gujarat to find work? Is Bihar only about sending labourers to different parts of the country?" said C.P. Thakur, a senior leader of the BJP in Bihar and a former Union minister.

The severity of unemployment can be gauged from the fact that only 5.9% people out of the 1.78 crore households in Bihar have salaried jobs, according to the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 data. This figure is much lower than the national average.

“With casteism in the background, development and governance are the key. The party which appeals to the people on these two issues will win this election," said Shiv Visvanathan.

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Published: 27 Oct 2015, 01:05 AM IST
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