Bihar caste survey: Will it be a double-edged sword for Nitish Kumar? | India News

NEW DELHI: The much-awaited results of caste survey in Bihar which was made public yesterday may well turn out to be a double-edged sword for chief minister Nitish Kumar, who was one of the prime supporters of the move.
While on the one hand Nitish Kumar will claim credit for the success of the exercise and would hope to make political gains by showing the path, on the other hand, the survey details will make him vulnerable to attacks as the caste he belongs to – the Kurmis – are only 2.87% of the state’s population.It is a different matter though that Nitish also has a strong backing from the EBCs, who have emerged as the largest social group in the state with a population of 36.01%.

Nitish Kumar’s party, the JD (U) has called the survey victory of social justice and said it will open new avenues of progress and prosperity for the Extremely Backward Classes. Several other parties have demanded similar exercise in their respective states citing the survey in Bihar.

However, even before Nitish Kumar could have planned his next political moves, there are already murmurs from his allies demanding power sharing based on caste strength in Bihar.
The survey has revealed that the Yadavs, who form the core support base of Lalu Prasad’s party the RJD, are the largest OBC group in the state with a population of 14.7%.

Overall, the OBCs are 27.13% of the state’s population. This definitely gives the RJD an edge and is bound to raise the chorus for Tejashwi Yadav to head the ruling coalition, if not now, then in the next assembly election, provided Nitish Kumar stays with the Mahagathbandhan till then.
A day after the survey results were out, Congress leader and former state president Anil Sharma has demanded appointment of three more deputy chief ministers apart from Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar. He claimed that while one would belong to the Muslim community, comprise nearly 17.7% of state’s population. The other two deputy chief ministers should be from the Other Backward Class (OBC) and the Economically Backward Classes(EBC), he demanded.
However, Nitish Kumar’s party the JD(U) has rubbished the Congress leader’s claim.
“A demand to make chief minister according to the population of a particular caste has been there since long. We only know Rahul Gandhi as a Congress leader. Since he has always been in favour of it, it has been done and hence the statements of other leaders have no meaning,” Bihar finance minister and JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said.
Rahul Gandhi on his part has already put himself and the Congress in a tight spot with his idea of ‘Jitni Abadi, Utna Haq’ which translates to rights based on population. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has questioned the formula proposed by the former Congress president and has asked the grand old party to explain.
He cited former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ask if the Congress would take away the rights of the minorities as they were numerically lesser in numbers?
The Prime Minister has accused the opposition of trying to divide the country on caste lines.
Clearly, the caste factor is going to dominate the political discourse as parties gear up for the year-end assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Watch Bihar Caste-Based Census: Does BJP have any idea about backward community, questions Nitish Kumar