The Hindu : Bihar leaders active again

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Friday, Jan 23, 2004

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Bihar leaders active again

By K. Balchand

PATNA, JAN. 22 . Come election time and caste groups and their leaders become active in Bihar. Political leaders vie with each other to grace gatherings, meetings and impart their messages. The past few weeks have seen a series of such milieu and quite a few are in store over the next fortnight.

All eyes are on the 80th birth anniversary of the late Karpoori Thakur with the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal and the National Democratic Alliance using the occasion (January 24) to woo the extremely backward castes (EBCs).

The EBCs constitute over 30 per cent of the electorate, but unfortunately enough it is a dissipated lot comprising several communities and lack unity to make their presence felt, unlike the intermediary backward and the forward castes.

The RJD chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav, will address a gathering in Patna, whereas the NDA leaders, George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav, and Shahnawaz Hussain, among others, are gathering at Karpoorigram in Samastipur district. If the Janata Dal(U) has the veteran socialist's son on its side, the RJD has won over his daughter.

In the offing is also a Kurmi, an intermediary backward caste, rally on February 12, convened by a legislator of the JD(U) to take stock of their achievement in the light of the Chetna rally held way back in 1994 which paved the way for the Railway Minister for parting ways with Mr. Yadav.

The other reason, of course, being that Mr. Yadav had himself attended a Kurmi rally at Hajipur last month in a bid to wean away those who nurtured a grudge against Mr. Kumar. The outcome of the rally would be crucial to both Mr. Kumar and Mr. Yadav. Equally important would be the fact whether or not Mr. Kumar attends the show.

But before the Kurmi rally, the other intermediary backward caste, Koeris, are scheduled to take out a `Gaurav rath' on February 2. At the preparatory meeting, the youth wing blew hot and cold at their leaders both in the RJD-led Government in the State and the BJP-led alliance at the Centre.

This time round the upper castes are asserting their rights too. They have demanded reservation on quota basis. It is paying off in a sense. A couple of days ago, Rajputs held a meeting attended by the RJD chief where he promised to include a 10 per cent reservation for the upper castes in his election manifesto.

The other forward caste, Kayasthas, exercised the option and both the RJD and NDA leaders addressed their meeting. Mr. Yadav issued a call for unity between the "pen'' and the "lathi.'' But the gathering also used the opportunity to hail the Union Minister, Shatrughan Sinha.

They wanted the NDA to project him as the next Chief Minister, an issue, which has raked a controversy in the alliance.

But the most significant was the formation of the Chanakya Vichar Manch by the Brahmins. The Maithils and the Kanyakubjas came together to so that they could be counted rather than be pushed to the periphery of the socio-political spectrum of the State.

The effort is also to correct the impression that they had been responsible for most of the ills plaguing the society and play a constructive role for the development of not only their own brethren but of the nation as a whole.

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Bihar leaders active again