Bihar election run-up: RJD, JD(U) try to outdo each other to woo Dalit vote bank

While LJP president Chirag Paswan’s blow-hot, blow-cold position on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has caused some confusion about his next political move, Manjhi leaving the RJD-led opposition Grand Alliance, and not yet joining the NDA yet, has sparked fresh political calculations for both sides.

Former state minister Shyam Rajak’s decision to leave the JD(U) and rejoin his old party, RJD, earlier this month has also added to the fresh churning of Dalit politics in Bihar.

While BJP, partners in the ruling alliance in Bihar, has been treading cautiously on Chirag’s posturings, and BJP national president J P Nadda made it clear about the party’s importance in the NDA, ally JD(U) is getting its Dalit leaders to do the talking. JD(U)’s leaders from SC communities such as Ashok Kumar Choudhary, Maheshwar Hazari, Santosh Nirala and Ramesh Rishidev are taking on the RJD and speaking on a host of welfare schemes initiated during Nitish’s tenure.

The JD(U) is also upbeat with another leader from the community, former director general, home guards, Sunil Kumar, joining it.

Ashok Choudhary recently rebutted Shyam Rajak’s allegations that the Nitish government has ignored Dalits and asked why Rajak needed 11 years to realise that. He also called Rajak an “opportunist”.

Rajak, meanwhile, has said that RJD supremo Lalu Prasad has been the “real voice of the oppressed” and a “social justice icon”. In another move in this politics over Dalit votes, Rajak would now take the seat next to Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav at party meetings and press conferences.

Besides Rajak, RJD is showcasing the party’s veteran Dalit faces such as former Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary and former ministers Ramai Ram and Shivchandra Ram to appeal to SC voters.

But taking on the RJD, JD(U) spokesperson and Information and Public Relations minister Neeraj Kumar said: “Everyone knows about a dozen schemes on housing, health and education the NDA government launched for SCs. We created the Mahadalit Vikas Mission for their welfare. Our government ensures a Dalit person unfurls the Tricolour on Independence Day in his/her villages. Their enrolment has gone up substantially in schools…. What the RJD is talking about is cliched social justice, which has no policy and programmes.”

RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tewari, however, said: “If senior leaders like Uday Narayan Choudhary, Ramai Ram and Shyam Rajak joined us leaving the JD(U) it speaks a lot about their disenchantment with JD(U). Everyone knows Lalu Prasad had given voice to Dalits.”

The BJP, however, is not overtly talking about Dalit politics. The party has in its ranks leaders from the community like former Union minister Sanjay Paswan and ex-MP Janak Chamar, who has been made the state unit general secretary.

Manjhi, whose Mushahar community is about 2.5 per cent of the state population, can influence the voting pattern to some extent for any combination he joins. He has a sizeable influence in central Bihar, and the JD(U) is keen to rope him in.

The focus on non-Paswan Dalits by other parties is one dominant emerging trend from the ongoing churn. Manjhi and Chirag Paswan’s next political move can help Dalit politics crystalise ahead of the Assembly polls.