Bihar parties play upper caste card to improve LS poll prospects

Patna: With 2019 general elections approaching, political parties have started playing a caste card to increase their voter base in Bihar.

The JD(U) which has been in power since 2005 with BJP's support has now started mobilising upper caste voters to improve its prospects in the Lok Sabha elections.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar also attended a meeting organised by top JD(U) leaders in Patna last week to discuss ways to win over upper caste voters. Sources said that leaders focused on making the party popular with the caste group who were once traditional voters of the Congress, but in the 1990s switched over to the BJP.

However, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar when contacted for his reaction to the issue, dismissed speculations that the party was trying to woo upper caste communities.

He said, "The state government led by chief minister Nitish Kumar enjoys the support of all sections due to its developmental schemes. All segments whether the EBC, Mahadalits, minorities or the upper castes have been benefited by the government's developmental schemes."

As per an assessment, the upper castes account for around 12 per cent of the population in Bihar.

According to analysts, Nitish Kumar who is often termed the Chanakya of politics in Bihar had started working on his social engineering strategy before 2005 and managed to gain support of the OBCs, EBCs, Mahadalits and minorities.

However, sources claim that the JD(U) has been worried after the RJD managed to cobble up unity with various political parties who have a strong voter base in the state.

According to political analysts, the importance of upper caste votes has increased after All India Congress Committee (AICC) recently restructured its Bihar unit and appointed party MLC Madan Mohan Jha as state president and Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Singh as chairman of the campaign committee.

Both the leaders are said to have a massive support of two dominant and numerically significant communities — Brahmin and Bhumihar. Appointment of two upper caste veterans to the top post was also seen as Congress party's move to mobilise upper caste voter base and upset the caste calculations of NDA in Bihar.

Analysts claim that the upper caste voters remained loyal to the BJP till 2014, but started moving away in 2015 when 12 out of 16 upper caste leaders fielded by the Congress won during the Assembly elections.

"With regional parties aligning with the grand alliance, upper caste voters are turning  away from the JD(U) and the BJP. In the coming 2019 general elections, the grand alliance will win on a maximum number of seats in Bihar," an RJD leader said.

Congress also downplayed JD(U) effort to woo upper caste voters by calling it "a political stunt" ahead of 2019 general elections.

Speaking to this newspaper, Congress spokesperson H.K. Verma claimed, "The JD(U) and BJP are aware that people are not happy with the government policy. That is why they are trying to woo voters. The fact is that the NDA, especially the BJP, has been indulging in divisive politics only to get electoral gains. The NDA will not return in 2019 no matter what they do."