Bihar: Old promises of caste survey, special status come to haunt BJP before LS polls

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav are trying to corner the BJP over the old unfulfilled promises. 

The ongoing debate about giving special status to Bihar has come back to haunt the BJP after the recent decision of the state cabinet, which endorsed the demand. Similarly, another recent decision to provide 75% reservation by the ruling JDU and RJD is creating problems for the BJP as the BJP-led NDA had earlier agreed to the demand of carrying out a caste survey in Bihar.

“The time has come for the people of Bihar to ask the state government, especially Tejashwi Yadav, to ask his father, Lalu Prasad Yadav, what kind of assistance was provided to the people under the previous Congress-led UPA regime between 2004 and 2014, when RJD was part of the Union government at the Centre,” said former Deputy CM and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

War of words

While Nitish Kumar alleged that the BJP has not fulfilled its commitment to provide special status to Bihar, senior NDA members argue that the state government was trying to politicise the issue because of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The electoral battle for Bihar is crucial for both the BJP-led NDA and Nitish Kumar-led INDIA Alliance because Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha constituencies. The NDA combine managed to have the upper hand in the last two general elections. Though JDU was part of the NDA during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kumar was not in alliance with the BJP during the 2014 general elections.

“If we look at the tenure of Congress-led UPA when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister, the Union government had given an assistance of Rs.1.61 lakh crore to Bihar. If we talk about the aid provided by the NDA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given Bihar a total of Rs 7.28 lakh crore in the two terms of the BJP. This is seven times the amount given under the previous UPA government,” Sushil Modi said in a video statement.

To put more pressure on the BJP and corner it politically, the Bihar government has asked the senior BJP leadership, both in Delhi and the state, to clarify their stand on the issue of special status. Nitish and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav have also alleged that the promise of special status for Bihar was first made by PM Modi and that the BJP had not fulfilled its commitment to the people of Bihar.

“The issue of special status for Bihar is not new. This idea came up during the first NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but it didn’t materialise. It has been more than two decades and we feel the time has come for the Union government to agree to the people's legitimate demand. It is surprising that the BJP was also supportive of the demand earlier but is opposing it now. The state government has passed a resolution that it needs Rs 2.5 lakh crore for the socio-economic development of the people of Bihar, and we feel that the Union government must accept our demand,” said RJD spokesperson Naval Kishore.

BJP’s strategy

With the caste survey becoming the main talking point of the Opposition parties under the INDIA alliance, the BJP is looking for ways to counter the narrative being set by the JDU-RJD leadership, which wants to trounce the NDA electorally in the state.

Taking the first step to plan a coordinated move to counter the growing demand for caste surveys in different states, senior BJP leaders recently held a meeting in New Delhi to deliberate on the issue. “We met recently to talk about issues related to OBCs and caste survey in Bihar, and a similar demand in other states also came up for discussion. It has been decided that the BJP will tell the people that the issue of caste survey was taken up for discussion under the Congress-led UPA regime. A group of ministers (GoM) was formed under Pranab Mukherjee, who was then finance minister but the idea was never implemented by the Congress,” said a senior BJP leader in the know of the development.

Senior BJP leaders are of the view that the party should tell the people that Congress is using caste survey as a political tool before the elections for political gains and that it has no intention of implementing it in the future. BJP leaders also said that they expect the Congress-led INDIA alliance to make caste survey a major issue in the general elections.

“Our biggest challenge is that the BJP was in power in Bihar, and it agreed to conduct a caste survey in the state. Now we cannot change our position in other states and also nationally,” said a BJP leader.

Even as the BJP is expecting trouble on the issue of caste survey, the party’s problems are increasing as more states are promising to conduct caste surveys. The state governments of Maharashtra and Telangana have reached out to the Bihar government to share details of the caste survey. Interestingly, the Andhra Pradesh government, too, is in touch with the Bihar government, and it is expected to kick off a caste survey in the state in December.

“The BJP leadership is on the backfoot because more state governments have promised to conduct caste surveys. Apart from Telangana and Maharashtra, which have shown interest, the Andhra Pradesh government is also planning to hold the exercise. Congress has already promised that if it comes to power, it will conduct caste survey in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh,” said Kishore.