Realignment in Bihar? Nitish, Paswan come closer for Dalit votes

After expressing serious concerns over communal flare-up in several parts of Bihar in which a Union Minister’s son has been arrested and several BJP workers booked, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan are sending clear signal of creating a pressure group within the NDA. Paswan, whose entire political edifice is built on Dalit politics, and Nitish, who divided the Scheduled Castes in Dalits and Maha Dalits, a decade ago, have agreed to hold a joint rally to mark the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar on April 14.

Nitish and Paswan had never been close allies as compared to the latter’s proximity with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad in the past. But in the new political equation that is coming up in Bihar, both the NDA partners are getting closer and have met at least four times in the past month.

Sensing the sulking mood of Paswan, the RJD too is trying to rope him in. Senior RJD leader Raghubansh Prasad Singh recently said that Paswan would soon quit the NDA because he is feeling suffocated and he is unable to do anything in his Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

In the recent past, the statements and movements of Paswan and another Union Minister from Bihar Upender Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party have been in focus with the RJD attempting to win them over.

Kuswaha recently called on Lalu at AIIMS in Delhi.

The NDA suffered a setback last month when former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi quit and his party Hindustani Awam Morcha and joined the Lalu-led alliance.

Incidentally, Kushwaha too has agreed to join the Ambedkar jayanti celebrations and share dais with Nitish and Paswan. Nitish is likely to make some major announcement concerning the status of Dalits. It is expected that he would include Paswan or Dusadh caste in the Maha Dalit category.

This had angered Paswan who had opposed Nitish decision to create Maha Dalit category in 2007 in which 18 out of 22 scheduled sub castes had been included and some more facilities had been extended to them. Later on all other sub-castes, barring Dusadh or Paswan, were included in Maha Dalit category.

It is also possible that the division of Dalit and Maha Dalit might be done away and there would be only one group Scheduled Caste. Paswan said that the Supreme Court had already outlawed the terms Dalit or Maha Dalit so the best option would be to call them Scheduled Caste which is also recognised in the Constitution.

What has politically scared Nitish and Paswan is the series of communal clashes in Bihar recently coupled with provocative statements by some of the BJP leaders and massive Dalit uprising over dilution of the SC/ST Act by the Supreme Court. Both the leaders are apprehensive that these developments would cost them support of Muslims and Dalits.

The April 14 conference will be keenly watched by the NDA’s big brother BJP which wants that all its allies remain intact till the Lok Sabha election 2019.