There are 19 percent Dalit votes in Bihar. 38 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes. All parties are eyeing this vote bank. So far three Dalit leaders have become CM in Bihar.
The bugle for Bihar Assembly Election has been blown. Parties have started laying their respective chessboards. All eyes are on the Dalit vote bank. NDA and India Alliance are constantly engaged in wooing 19 percent vote bank of Bihar.
Path of non-cooperation in NDA
Union Minister and Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular) patron Jitan Ram Manjhi and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan are taking the path of non-cooperation regarding Dalit politics in NDA. Both of them took different paths on the Supreme Court’s decision to deprive the creamy layer from the facility of reservation.
Manjhi was seen with the decision of the Supreme Court
Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was seen with the decision of the Supreme Court. He called it a decision in the interest of Dalits. He said that this decision should have come ten years ago. Today, the same people who took advantage of it for 76 years are against the decision on reservation. He said that why only four castes are taking advantage of reservation for the last 76 years? Till date, how many IAS-IPS have been made from castes like Bhuiyan, Musahar, Mehatar. How many Chief Engineers are there from these castes. The literacy rate of these castes is still very low.
There should be no division in the facility of reservation: Chirag
LJP (R) chief Chirag Paswan said that he does not want any division in the facility of reservation. He said that people from the creamy layer should not be deprived of the facility of reservation. Chirag said that an environment should be created for them to voluntarily give up reservation.
Taunting Chirag’s rally
Jitan Ram Manjhi has indirectly taunted Chirag Paswan’s rally held in Ara recently. Manjhi said that leaders who are really strong do not need to speak much. Weak people often pretend and speak more. Manjhi said that our party stands strongly with the NDA.
Congress made Dalit Rajesh Ram the state president
Since the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi has been constantly talking about social justice and caste survey. He is looking for a way to bring back Congress in Bihar with the help of Dalit and backward politics. Recently, during his Bihar tour, he also interacted with Dalits and backward classes. He also went to Patna to watch the film Phule based on the life of social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule. There was a lot of uproar over this.
Earlier, former Union Minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who belonged to the Bhumihar caste, was removed from the post of Bihar Congress state president. Then the reins of Bihar Congress were handed over to Rajesh Kumar, a two-time MLA from the Dalit community. Congress has a strong legacy of Dalit politics in Bihar. Babu Jagjivan Ram was once the Dalit face of the Congress. Rajesh Ram’s father, former minister Dilkeshwar Ram, has also been a big Dalit face in Bihar. Rajesh Ram had contested from Kutumba seat in 2015 against Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son and HAM (Secular) chief Santosh.
Manjhi was defeated in the election. In 2020 also, he defeated the candidate of Hindustani Awam Morcha. Rajesh Ram is also the Deputy Chief Whip of Congress in Bihar Legislative Assembly.
Lalu’s birthday, RJD fed cake to Dalits
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav celebrated his 78th birthday on Wednesday. Party workers organized a feast in Dalit Basti on this occasion. Distributed books, copies and pens among Dalit children. Cut cake in Dalit settlements. Actually, all this exercise is on 19 percent Dalit vote bank in Bihar. This time RJD is trying its best to get OBC, minorities as well as Dalits in its camp to gain power.
Attempt to capture 38 reserved seats
There are a total of 243 seats in Bihar Legislative Assembly. 38 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes. Dalits have the power to make and break the government. In the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, NDA won 21 out of 38 seats, while the Grand Alliance won 17 seats.
JDU’s Dalit-Mahadalit politics
Earlier, there were 22 castes in the Dalit community in Bihar, but in 2005, Nitish Kumar came to power in Bihar. To manage the vote bank and to counter Ram Vilas Paswan’s Dalit politics, he divided the Dalits into two castes. Out of 22, he included 21 castes in Mahadalit, while he kept the Paswan caste in the Dalit category. Nitish Kumar’s social engineering in the last 20 years revolved around non-Yadav OBCs and Mahadalits. From time to time, he also got the support of the upper castes, but Nitish suffered a major setback in the last assembly elections. JDU won only 8 seats in the SC category. JDU is once again engaged in Dalit politics.
All three Dalit CMs proved to be useless
Dalits have always been used as vote bank in Bihar. Three Dalit leaders have become CM of Bihar so far, but all three proved to be useless. Congress leader Bhola Paswan Shastri became the first Dalit CM of Bihar. He became CM of Bihar thrice. He was also a minister at the center. After Bhola, Ram Sundar Das became the Dalit CM of Bihar. Jitan Ram Manjhi, who comes from the Dalit community, also became the CM of the state. All three leaders could not leave any special impact
Courtesy : Hindi News