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Patna, Sept 9: The flag-bearers of secularism, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav have placed their pet issue of ‘communalism’ in the backdrop ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The duo have instead began appealing voters primarily on lines of caste and inter-caste.
A couple of years back, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar broke his 17-year long alliance with BJP. NDA’s decision to project Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate triggered him to move out. Since Modi carried the ghost of Godhra along with him, Nitish opted to non-align himself with the saffron party ahead of general elections.
Departure from the Narendra Modi-led NDA provided fresh fodder to Nitish Kumar to proclaim himself as the self appointed secular-in-chief. (ALSO READ: Bihar Assembly Elections 2015: 7 potential BJP chief ministerial candidates)
Two years later, the duo of Nitish and Lalu are refraining from creating anxiety among minority community, by slamming the right-wing credentials of BJP. The rationale behind boycotting secularism as poll-plank is the humiliating defeat suffered in 2014 Lok Sabha, where the Hindu vote consolidated and the term of secularism sounded like ‘Muslim appeasement’ to electorates among the majoritarian community.
Since secularism may prove to be double-edged sword, the JD(U)-RJD coalition switched to the complex politics of caste in order to appeal electorates. The move became more evident in the August 29 Swabhiman rally where Lalu Prasad Yadav raked up communalism only once, whereas, on numerous occasions, he said that his party would continue to fight those who are the enemies of Mandal (OBCs).
Setting the theme for the elections, Lalu has reiterated that this election is a battle between Mandal and Kamandal (upper-caste right wing factions). Responding to Prime Minister Modi’s jungle raj 2 jibe, the RJD supremo has said, “If I win, we will revive Mandal raj 2″.
RJD has a strong grip over the Yadav community and even in the presence of strong Modi-wave, the Yadavs showed solidarity with Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party’s 20 per cent vote share in the general elections reflect the fact.
Chief Minster Nitish Kumar has a strong influence over the Kurmi caste, to which he belong. Traditionally, the Kurmis along with Koeris (OBC) have voted in the same direction. On Saturday, Nitish played a master-stroke from a political point of view by accepting the demands of Nishad community and allotting them Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The Nishads constitute around 30 per cent of Bihar’s population. (ALSO READ: Nitish Kumar accepts Nishad community’s reservation demand; wins support ahead of Bihar assembly elections)
However, the two veteran players of caste, have failed to realize that a significant proportion of Bihar is developing and has ended up being frustrated with the baggage of their respective castes.
According to a report carried by The Indian Express, around nine per cent of the electorates residing in Bihar opt for inter-caste marriages. Spread over in major cities, they constitute roughly 40 lakh votes. These aspirational voters may find the caste-centric campaign of Lalu-Nitish as repulsive and may instead identify their aspirations with the dreams of development shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A rural centric campaign involving the poisons of caste and sub-caste may prove to be disastrous as it did for Congress in 1997 Gujarat state polls which allowed BJP to win 54 out of the 58 urban constituencies.
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