No buzz in Bihar around caste census, parties relegate it to back burner

Not too long ago, both the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar were trying to own the caste-based survey that last year revealed that the Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) were the largest social bloc in the state at 36.1% of the population.

Based on it, the Mahagathbandhan government with the JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister quickly announced a hike in quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and EBCs from 50% to 65%.

But since Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA in January, the caste survey and demand for a nationwide caste census, which had been emerging as the main poll plank for the Opposition, have been put on the back burner. On the ground, the caste census demand does not seem to be finding any resonance as people discuss candidates and their castes, welfare measures, the image of India abroad, unemployment and price rise.

Nitish Kumar who had backed the caste survey and led a campaign around it for the last three years has not mentioned it at all. Instead, he is back to his tried and tested theme of “misrule versus good governance”. A senior JD(U) leader in Munger said, “Munger has a lot of EBC votes. We know that barring a few, most of them will vote in PM Modi’s name. Nitish Kumar’s speeches are drafted in a manner in which he can continue to compare the Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi regimes, which were rife with misgovernance and massacres, with Nitish Kumar’s ‘good governance’. We know it is hackneyed, but it is still working.”

The local JD(U) leader said Modi’s name alone unites EBC, Dalit, and women voters because of the Centre’s various labharthi (beneficiary) schemes, from free rations and Ayushman health cards to Ujjawala