Bharat Ek Soch: Bihar is once again standing on the threshold of elections, with people having the power of vote to decide who will form the government and who will sit in the opposition. But, on what basis will the people of Bihar vote this time? Will it be on the issue of development, the demand for change, the need to stop employment migration, the improvement of schools and colleges, economic progress, law and order, industrial development or will the caste issue prevail in the end?
Bihar has been a vocal laboratory of caste politics. Prominent leaders of Bihar may be talking about development and change, talking about Bihar First, Bihari First, but internally, the moves are being made very carefully to balance the caste equations. In such a situation, small caste based parties have started to expand themselves. Parties like Mukesh Sahni’s VIP or Upendra Kushwaha’s RLM, Jitan Ram Majhi’s HAM or Chirag Paswan’s LJP-R have chosen sides according to their convenience.
The compulsion of big political parties is that by aligning with small caste based parties, their strength increases; however, they are at risks if they oppose. The forward-backward divide in Bihar’s electoral politics had started even before independence.
For the first 20 years after independence, the upper castes dominated the power structure in Bihar. After that, the politics of allowing participation of backward classes in the power started. But, in the 1960s, most of the leaders who raised the voice for the backward classes in Bihar belonged to the upper caste. This is the reason why Mahamaya Prasad Sinha of the Kayastha community became the head of the first non-Congress government in Bihar in 1967. The work of creating enthusiasm for power through the basis of caste then continued at a rapid pace. Some young leaders emerging from the socialist ideology of Dr. Lohia and Karpoori Thakur and the JP movement gave a new shape to the caste politics in Bihar. These include Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, late Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav.
In the beginning of the 1990s, Lalu Yadav ruled Bihar for 15 years on the basis of Muslim plus Yadav equation. When the dominance of Yadavs increased, other backward castes mobilised against them. In 2005, Nitish Kumar achieved power by balancing new caste equations. Following this, Bihar leaders brainstormed more on caste equations instead of development and change.
In such a situation, today we will try to understand how efforts are being made to balance caste equations in Bihar elections this time. How high did the wall of caste rise in Bihar in the last 35 years i.e. during the Lalu-Nitish era? How does the BJP works on the script of caste mobilisation in Bihar? How did the political dominance of the upper castes break in Bihar and in which direction is the politics of making the backward castes forward moving now? In this article, we will try to find answers to such questions.
Social engineering of votes for power
Caste is not dead but alive. It is the reality of our social fabric. It is the basis and identity of social relationships, but in our democratic system, the use of caste manipulation to win elections continues. As a result of this, the wall of caste in the society is getting higher instead of falling. Hardly any political party is behind in the race of making equations to gain power on the basis of internal caste polarisation.
Bihar BJP President Dilip Jaiswal belongs to Kalwar caste. Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary belongs to Kuswaha community, while Deputy CM Vijay Sinha’s caste ie Bhumihar. JDU’s biggest face and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs to Kurmi community.
Be it Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party, Upendra Kushwaha’s party, Chirag Paswan’s party or Mukesh Sahani’s party, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD or Congress. RJD has appointed Mangani Lal Mandal, who belongs to Dhanuk caste, as Bihar state president, while Congress has given the responsibility of Bihar Congress to Rajesh Kumar, who comes from Dalit community. The motive is clear-social engineering of votes for power. In such a situation, there is constant addition and subtraction of caste combinations in political parties to win more seats.
How did Nitish Kumar rise in Politics?
The hottest topic of discussion among people in Bihar these days is which caste’s vote will go in whose favour this time? Which castes’ votes favour the duo of Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi? Lalu Yadav had once made a combination of MY i.e. Muslim +Yadav vote bank, expanding which Tejashwi Yadav talks of women+ youth combination.
The caste survey report of the Bihar government which came two years ago says that Yadav is the largest caste in the state. The share of Yadavs in the state’s population is more than 14%. In Bihar with a population of 13 crore, the share of OBCs is 63.14%. In which there are two categories, one Backward Classes and the other Extremely Backward Classes.
Even among Muslims, only a few castes benefitted from power. The advanced castes of the state were sidelined in the storm of social justice of Lalu Prasad Yadav. During his time, the influence of Yadavs increased from society to the power establishment. Due to this, resentment started growing among the minus Yadav OBC castes. This caste discontent led to the rise of Kurmi politics, whose face was Nitish Kumar.
In such situation, efforts are being made to pull the OBC vote bank in their favour. In the 1990s, Lalu Yadav made the equation of power by focusing on Yadavs and Muslims, which strengthened the Yadavs. In Muslims, only a few castes benefitted from power. The upper castes of the state were sidelined in the storm of social justice started by Lalu Prasad Yadav. During his time, the influence of Yadavs increased from society to the power establishment. Due to this, resentment started growing among the minus Yadav OBC Castes. This caste discontent led to the rise of Kurmis in politics, whose face was Nitish Kumar.
After coming to power in 2005, Nitish Kumar not only managed the caste equations but also added the engine of development. He joined the backward OBC castes as compared to the Yadavs in the Lalu-Rabri regime, along with the Mahadalits among Dalits and the Pasmanda among Muslims. Due to Nitish Kumar’s moderate socialist image, he started getting support from the upper castes as well.
Which class suffered in the fight of Upper and Backward castes?
The politics of Bihar started revolving around Lalu Yadav and Nitish. A special kind of pattern was observed in the elections. Instead of making a particular candidate or party win the election, people started voting to stop the other from coming to power. The biggest loss that Bihar suffered in the fight between upper and backward class was that the educated class of the state started moving out rapidly.
Most of the officers in the bureaucracy were from upper castes, whom the flag bearers of social justice politics did not want to appoint to important posts. The result was that some went out on deputation, while some kept waiting for the situation to change according to their posting in Bihar.
This is also the political character flaw of Bihar and the thirst for power that the stream of Non-Congressism that led to rise of Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar is now changed; as Lalu Yadav forms the government in Bihar with the help of Congress; whereas, Nitish Kumar saves his government with Congress’ help.
This is also the effect and time cycle of castes in Bihar politics, in which once the leaders of backward castes used to stand behind the leaders of upper castes, today the upper castes leaders are struggling to save their existence behind the leaders of backward castes.
In such a situation, to understand the story of backward castes coming to the center of power in Bihar, one has to go to the year 1967. During this time, the slogan was “SamSoPa ne baandhi gaanth, Pichhara pave sau mein saath” was raised. Actually, in the 1960s, socialist Ram Manohar Lohia started the mobilisation of backward castes in Bihar and UP, the side effect of which was that within 20 years of independence, the power in Bihar went from the hands of upper castes to the hands of backward community.
How was the Bihar of Bengal?
The wheel of society and power always keeps turning. There was once a fight between the upper and backward classes, now there is a fight in the backward classes as well. For the first 20 years after independence, the upper castes dominated the power in Bihar. It included people from Bhumihar, Brahmin, Rajput and Kayastha castes. In fact, the formation of a separate state of Bihar by separating from Bengal in the year 1912 can be seen as a big case study of the success of caste and political coordination.
When Bihar used to be a part of Bengal, the Bengali upper castes were the most knowledgeable in English. Later, Kayasthas and Muslims showed great interest in English education. The Kayasthas started a big movement challenging the Bengali dominance in government offices and demanded a separate state i.e. Bihar. In that era, the slogan of the Kayasthas used to be – “Bihar for Biharis.”
When Bihar became a separate state in 1912, new opportunities arose in every field, Educated and English knowing Kayasthas and Muslims took advantage of it. The dominance of the Kayastha caste in Bihar was challenged by the Bhumihars. Later, the Kayasthas and Rajputs joined hands to challenge the Bhumihars. The tradition of setting political equations on the basis of caste had begun. In the 1946 assembly elections, Congress gave tickets to Rajputs, 15 Bhumihar Brahmins and 13 Kayasthas on 18 out of 76 seats…While 8 members of the backward castes got ticket. In the first election after the independence, there was a lot of tension and factionalism on the issue of caste.
At that time, the big leader of the Bhumihars was Shri Krishna Singh. This group was successful in aligning the big leader of the Kayasthas, Krishna Ballabh Sahay on its side. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, a big leader of the Rajput community was also included. Shri Krishna Singh, who was the Chief Minister then, and Jayaprakash Narayan called the period “Bhumihar Raj.”
A look at the shares of castes in Bihar’s politics
How the does the share in power, increases or decreases the strength of a caste or community can be understood through statistics. In the year 1934, the participation of Kayasthas in Bihar Pradesh Congress Executive Committee was 53.84%, while that of Rajput community was 7.70% and that of Bhumihars was 15.38%, but in the year 1952, the participation of Kayasthas decreased to 5.26%. The participation of Rajputs increased to 26.33%. That of Bhumihars was 21.05%.
During this period, Brahmins also strengthened their position in the political landscape of Bihar. In 1957, if we look at the caste-based share of 210 members of Bihar Legislative Assembly, 34 members of Bhumihar caste, 30 of Rajput caste, 20 from Brahmin community and 8 members of Kayastha caste managed to reach the assembly. Whereas, in the year 2020, 28 Rajput, 21 Bhumihar, 21 Brahmin and 3 Kayastha caste candidates managed to get into the assembly in Bihar. Bhumihars, who were once considered the most powerful and influential socially, economically and politically in Bihar now lag behind. New official figures show that among the upper castes, people of this caste are in the worst condition.
In 1990, when Lalu Prasad Yadav came into power, 63 candidates of Yadav caste reached the assembly. In the next election i.e. 1995, this number increased to 86. But, in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the number of Yadav candidates came down to 54, out of which only 36 Yadav candidates became MLAs. Bihar’s history is a witness that castes strengthened power and power gave rise to special people within the castes. Bihar’s progress slowed down in balancing caste equations for power. Society and politics could not get freedom from that rigidity, which had the agenda of Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas at its center.
Also Read: Dard-E-Bihar: Do Criminals No Longer Fear The Police Or Law? Why Is Crime On The Rise?
