Eye on Bihar polls, NDA mounts damage control over Mahadalit home burning as INDIA raises storm

While the victims reportedly belong to the Ravidas and Musahar groups among Mahadalits, the alleged perpetrators of the offence are from the Paswan (Dalit) community.

With Bihar headed for polls next year, the JD (U) leaders told The Indian Express that the incident is “unlikely to be damaging” for the NDA, saying that the Nitish government started taking action as soon as the incident came to light.

“There is no way to control spontaneous crime anywhere. However, once the crime takes place, what distinguishes one government from another is the way the police take action. Arrests have already been made, and Nitish Kumar is not the CM to spare anyone involved. It was the Nitish government that put Ashok Mahto behind bars despite the latter also being a Kurmi like Nitish,” a senior JD (U) leader, who did not wish to be identified, said.

He charged that the “organised crimes” used to be prevalent in the days when the Lalu Prasad-led RJD was in power, adding that private armies like the Ranvir Sena as well as the ultra-Left Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) committed massacres then. “All this became history under the Nitish dispensation,” he said.

JD(U) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told The India Express: “It (Nawada incident) is a case of land dispute between Scheduled Castes Manjhi (Mushahar) and Paswan. Nawada police acted swiftly by arresting 15 people, most of whom are from the Paswan community. It is not a case of (caste) atrocities. RJD has been trying to play politics over a law and order matter.”

Another JD(U) leader said, “Most disputes in Bihar are related to land. Land digitisation is underway under the NDA government. This will bring clarity in land records and make such disputes gradually become history.”

Sources in the Bihar BJP said the row is expected to “cool down” soon, as police action has been “visibly swift”. “The fact that it is an intra-Dalit clash also shows that this violence is social in nature and not part of an establishment lapse. Nitish Kumar’s record on law and order has been good, and we expect people to see it in correct perspective despite the RJD’s propaganda,” a BJP office-bearer told The Indian Express.

LJP (Ram Vilas) chief and Union minister Chirag Paswan was quick to condemn the incident, even as Paswans are his party’s core support base. He said he would visit the affected Mahadalit settlement and meet the aggrieved families.

“The news of the burning of about 21 houses of Mahadalit Tola by goons and criminals in Nawada is extremely shameful and reprehensible. Being a major ally of the NDA government, I demand from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ji that such culprits should be arrested as soon as possible and given the harshest punishment, and every possible provision should be made for financial help to the victims. Also, I demand a judicial inquiry into the matter so that no one dares to commit such an incident in future. My party and I express deep condolences for the victims’ families. I will soon visit the spot and meet the family,” Chirag said.

Union minister and another NDA ally Jitan Ram Manjhi told The Indian Express that he would visit Nawada on September 22. Asked if he would demand rebuilding of the victims’ houses, he answered in the affirmative, adding that the Bihar government has already started taking action against the accused. Musahars form the core vote base of Manjhi’s party, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), in the state.

In the political fallout of the row ahead of the Assembly polls, the RJD went all out to target the Nitish government over the incident, with its leader and ex-deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi what he would say about the “Mangalraj (good governance)” of the NDA in Bihar. “Please say on this Mangalraj that all this is happening as per the will of God and the big-mouthed powerful leaders of NDA have no control,” Tejashwi said.

Training his guns on the NDA, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi called the incident “a horrifying picture of injustice against the Bahujans in Bihar” and alleged that “the silence of the Prime Minister is a seal of approval on this big conspiracy”.

In a post on X in Hindi, Rahul stated that “such anarchist elements find shelter under the leadership of BJP and its NDA allies – they intimidate and suppress the Bahujans of India so that they cannot even demand their social and constitutional rights.”

Lalu Prasad also gunned for the NDA, alleging that there was no law and order in Bihar and that Nitish has “failed”.