Backwards back out, Laloo ditched

And the reason? It was not the suppressed Dalits or the terrorised minorities, nor the marginalised upper castes ousted out of power or Laloo8217;s own clan eager to empower themselves to the politics of the state. It was a newly discovered third factor!

The erstwhile low-key strata, which remain scattered in the name of backwards, continued to support Laloo. Whereas he, in the garb of 8216;messiah of backward classes8217;, cashed on his image of the leader of the backwards and continued milking this meek and malnourished section.

But what had Laloo been doing to woo them? The answer is very clear 8211; nothing, for their support came one way or the other. And then the Election Commission suddenly stirred this easy equation, ensuring that the deprived backwards vote their way to power.

Statistics speak for themselves, most backwards moved from the hold of Laloo to Nitish is clear from the fact that of the 58 seats gained by JD-U, 31 have been wrested from RJD and very less 12 from LJP. On the contrary of the 15 seats gained by RJD only 5 have been wrested from JD-U and 8 from LJP.

The figures have established another important factor. The change in the movement of the 8216;Muslim8217; vote bank showed that JD-U did not cut much ice with the Muslims and the game of Muslims was limited to Laloo and Paswan.

The Muslim tussle is more evident in the LJP and RJD, where the latter despite losing the majority seats, wrested 8 seats from LJP, even though Paswan had been quite vocal about his demand for a Muslim CM.

The regions of Tirhut and Mithila in North Bihar comprises of 72 and 44 seats respectively, nearly half of the total seats in the state Assembly. The EBCs extremely backward class of the area account for more than 35 per cent of the population and have been an important vote bank for Laloo till very recently.

But the tables have turned. While the JD-U gained 25 seats, RJD instead of keeping its previous tally intact, had to suffer a loss of no less than 8 seats. Similar debacles happened in the East Bihar 5 and Bhojpur 4 but the loses in North are conspicuous.

The most prominent leader of the backwards and the champion of Mandal Commission was rejected in the land, where the clout in terms of vote, is wielded by the very backward section of the society.

In the February elections it was Mithilanchal, which salvaged the prestige of the king of the backwards.

It is not as if the RJD supremo could not guess the onslaught of his most backward brethren but as a matter of fact it was too late for him to come out of his Muslim-Yadav fort. He realised it a bit too late that he needed to venture out of his fortifications to fight the imminent crusader saddled with the armies of backwards, who had crowned Laloo more than once.

It was not without reason that desperate Laloo in the recently held Bihar polls went out of his way in the Mithilanchal region of Bihar, where EBCs dispersed in more than a hundred castes and camped and campaigned in the local media, by praying separately to the individual castes by projecting their leaders from the RJD.

It was the EBCs, which made Laloo lose his sleep despite his M-Y Muslim-Yadav vote bank consolidating compared to the February polls.

The battle for EBCs became quite clear even during the campaigning, when JD-U tried their wholehearted efforts to lure the obscure castes. The scramble was evident, when one of the leaders of the JD-U said, 8220;Gamchas are manufactured by weavers, both Hindus and Muslims, who belong to the EBC group.8221;

The importance of this class EBC is that it transcends the barriers of religions and is equally dominant in the Hindus and Muslims. And beneath this M-Y vote bank, was gushing an undercurrent of the unnoticed most backward classes, who were just waiting for an opportunity to turn a tsunami over the indifferent Laloo. Though Laloo had seen it coming, it had become too late.

Surprisingly the Muslim section of EBC was indifferent to his empty rhetoric of claiming himself to be the caretaker of the minorities or Paswan8217;s unfailing expression of demanding a Muslim CM. It EBC was in fact busy chalking out space for itself in the power equations of the state, irrespective of the religious affiliations. It was then did they realise the potential of Nitish Kumar, with whom they could identify themselves.

What was important for them was that Nitish Kumar was one among them. His political credentials were secondary concerns for this class.

The Mandal euphoria, which had brought these classes close to Yadavs was almost over because of their acute sidelining by Laloo for the past 15 years. Only one or two communities cornered most of the benefits accruing of being a backward. This fact disenchanted the most backwards from the backwards and they were left alone in wilderness only to search for new pastures for them. The fact that Nitish came on the platform to represent his section was only obvious.

The difference between Laloo and Nitish vis-agrave;-vis EBCs

Laloo is a Yadav and Nitish a Kurmi 8211; both champions of backwards in their own style. The backwards, as a whole, are not a homogenous caste and like any other section of society can call the shots only in unison and not otherwise.

Though Yadavs are a majority among themselves and Kurmi votes are also no less than 5 per cent of the votes, what makes Laloo and Nitish a power to beckon with, is their being leaders of backwards and not of their particular castes in isolation.

Laloo understood this fact too well but kept ignoring the non-Yadavs, for he was too sure of securing their spontaneous support. He even proved himself right, despite his negligence towards them but the story could not go on forever.

Riding on the post-Mandal among the backwards, Laloo was an unquestioned champion of this section, irrespective of the fact what sort of development model if any he followed.

But time unfolded the reality and the non-Yadav backwards realised the fact that the backward spirit of Laloo was limited to Yadavs only. Thus they decided for a change but were helpless in walking through their will. Then came a potential leader in the name of Nitish Kumar, who had the power and resources to turn the tables on Laloo Even the non-Kurmis backwards, who 8216;mattered8217;, aligned with the Nitish bandwagon to give way to the change of guard in the state.

Why it did not happen in the February elections? As a matter of fact Nitish Kumar was very much present in the February elections too but then questions were raised over the degree of fairness in the elections and RJD was accused of having its way throughout the polls. But this time the management and the execution of the elections, courtesy K G Rao, was exemplary.

The outcome is no secret now and can be seen by one and all.

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