Patna: While the caste data released by the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government Monday is likely to have potentially disruptive implications for national politics, especially in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it is unlikely to have much impact in the state of affairs in Bihar, political observers told ThePrint.
This, according to political experts, is because the results of the caste census — which pegged 63 percent of the state’s population to be from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) communities, with the upper castes comprising just 15.5 percent of the state’s population — only validated the commonly-held ideas about the caste demographics in the state.
According to political experts the shrinking in the upper caste population in the state doesn’t come as a surprise, “owing to large scale migration” and other factors impacting their numbers in the state.
“In reality, nothing much has changed except the fact that the EBC population which was estimated to be 29 percent is actually more than 34 percent”, said former member of the Bihar legislative council and writer, Prem Kumar Mani, many of his works are aimed at improving the conditions of the lower state of society.
The caste report does, however, show some variations within the broader backward castes category than what was so far believed to be true.
For example, Kushwahas (OBC), so far believed to be six percent of the population — based on the last caste census of 1931 and claims made by caste leaders — have been found to comprise only a little over four percent of the population in Bihar. The Kushwaha votebank is said to have been one consideration in BJP choosing Samrat Choudhary as president of the Bihar unit.
Similarly, Dalits (Scheduled Castes), who comprised 16 percent of the state’s population in 1931, have now been found to make up almost 20 percent of the population in Bihar.
This could be of concern to Nitish and his Rashtriya Janata Dal ally Lalu Prasad Yadav, as two of the most recognised Dalit faces in the state, Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi, are both part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The prohibition law brought in by Kumar in Bihar is also said to have cost him in terms of Dalit votes, as a section of them (Pasis, or toddy tappers) have been deprived of their ancestral profession because of this.
The Bihar cabinet approved a caste survey in June last year. The first phase of the census was held in January this year, while a second phase was conducted between April and May. The results were disclosed Monday.
While RJD leader and Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav has hailed the Bihar caste report as a “milestone” that will “ensure the deprived sections get their due”, JD(U) state president Umesh Kushwaha said, “it will strengthen the path of social justice”.
BJP MP Sushil Modi has meanwhile said that the decision to hold the caste census was taken while the JD(U) was in alliance with the BJP in the state, and the RJD — which joined hands with the JD(U) later, after Nitish Kumar’s fallout with the BJP last year — “has nothing to celebrate”.
With the Opposition already calling for Bihar’s caste report to be scaled up at the national level, however, political experts foresee that the demand may become a rallying point to mobilise the backward castes in the run-up to the 2024 general election.
Also read: ‘Not a futile search for a pot of gold’ — Patna High Court order upholding Bihar caste census
‘Give voice to smaller groups’
The BJP, ‘often tagged a party of upper castes’, also has many upper caste leaders in its Bihar unit (in comparison to the upper caste population in the state).
While a BJP leader told ThePrint that the state had moved beyond “upper caste vs backward caste” politics, according to political observers, the party has been trying to build support among the backward castes in the state, which have mostly rallied behind the ruling Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in previous assembly elections.
“After the emergence of Lalu in Bihar politics in 1990 and caste violence in North and Central Bihar, there was a huge migration of upper castes to places like Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and across the country. Also the upper castes are generally more educated and generally do not have more than two children. Therefore the decline [in their number] from 13 percent in the 1931 caste census to about 10 percent [now] is not surprising. This does not mean that their political influence will end,” said Mani.
Naxal violence in central Bihar in the 1990s, targeted at the upper caste, land-owning Bhumihars, had led to many from the community leaving the state. Around the same period caste violence between upper and backward caste communities in north Bihar also resulted in migrations, according to Mani.
In 2000, Bihar was bifurcated to create the state of Jharkhand. While the unified state had a 9 percent reservation for those from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) in jobs and education, as most tribal-dominated areas of the state became a part of Jharkhand with the bifurcation, the reservation was reduced to one percent.
The eight percent dip, resulted in the increase in the percentage of Yadavs (a part of OBC) in positions of power, say political observers
“With Yadavs being the dominant backward section (from 11 percent in 1931, their number has gone up to 14 percent of population now), the thumb rule is that every other caste would tend to join hands against the dominant caste,” said a JD(U) MLA on condition of anonymity.
The caste survey may also give bargaining power to certain smaller groups by making them aware of their numbers, said Dr D. M. Diwakar, former director of A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies in Patna.
These include Nais who comprise 10 percent of the popular in Bihar according to Monday’s report, Nonias (1.9 percent), Kumhars (1.4 percent) and Mallah (2.6 percent) — part of backward class or OBC.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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