Janjivan Bureau
New Delhi/ Patna: RJD supremo Lalu Prasad questioning if i did not do anything for upper cast what BJP has been doing to the Muslims? Both BJP and Lalu have adopted more or less the same strategy i.e. no pretensions and near complete marginalization of the group that can not be won over.
Whereas BJP contesting 160 Bihar seats has fielded only two Muslim, Lalu has given just three seats to what in local parlance is called SAVARNAS occupying high pedestal in the Manu’s social order. RJD is contesting 101 seats in the 243 member Bihar Legislative Assembly. 48 of the 101 seats have been given to the Yadavas alone, which, in percentage terms comes to nearly 50 pc. As against 48 Yadavas, Lalu’s party has fielded just one Rajput and one Brahmin. One seat has also been given to a Kayestha candidate.
According to observers of the Bihar political scene, the near total marginalization of the upper castes fits in with the Lalu strategy of making the 2015 assembly election as Mandal Phase II. It is the political extension of the earlier call to eradicate what in Bihar politics is called BHURA BAL (Bhumihar, Rajput, Brahmains and Lalas) Lalas are also known as Kayesthas.
According to former MP and old Socialist war horse Shivanand Tiwari, the marginalization of upper castes is part of the RJD strategy to convert the election into a Agra-Pichhra ( Forward-Backward) fight and Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on the highly emotive reservation issue has only made things less difficult for Lalu. With 16 tickets, Muslims, the second part of the once formidable MY combine occupy the no. 2 slot in the RJD scheme of things.
By available indications both RJD and BJP proceed on the assumption that those who are not with you are against you. The dividing line of the coming elections is more or less clear and in this crucial elections the number of fence sitters is pretty low, says Masoom Aziz Kazmi, a retired IPS turned researcher.
Bihar watchers are divided on the issue whether this election is Lalu centric or Modi centric. Though a sizeable number of political observers feel that like almost all the elections held since 1995, the 2015 elections too are going to be Lalu centric and by harping on the Jungle Raj threat BJP too is trying to make this election Lalu centric.
Lalu centric or Modi centric or both, the fact is that Bihar Assembly Election 2015 is being fought on negatives. If the NDA is marketing Jungle Raj, the Grand Alliance is fanning Modi phobia. All talk of development on both sides of the divide was just ritualistic. Parties are playing the caste card to the hilt. NDA has fielded 89 upper caste candidates while the number of OBCs and EBCs in the Mahagatbhandhan comes to 131. Battle lines are clearly drawn.
