New Delhi, Oct 24 Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by launching the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) campaign for the Bihar Assembly election from Karpoori Gram, paid tributes to the legacy of former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur on Friday.
PM Modi has repeatedly praised Thakur’s contribution to society, with his work for social justice and in empowering the marginalised classes. It was the Modi-led NDA government that decided last year to bestow upon Bihar’s celebrated Socialist leader the highest civilian award of Bharat Ratna. And in July this year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had laid the foundation stone for the development of Karpoorigram Station, with a budget of some Rs 3.30 crore.
Pitaunjhia, in Bihar’s Samastipur district, could have remained another obscure place had it not been the birthplace of Thakur. It was renamed Karpoori Gram (or Karpoori village) in honour of the “Jan Nayak (people’s leader)”, after he died in 1988.
The venue intended to reassure regional leaders, alliance partners, and caste leaders that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recognises local icons and grievances. It communicated an outreach to the people who have traditionally looked to leaders like Karpoori Thakur for social and economic redress.
Incidentally, Thakur’s elder son, Ram Nath, represents the NDA constituent Janata Dal(United) in the Rajya Sabha. Thus, it was not all about the poll and politics that played upon the decision to begin the Prime Minister’s poll campaign from Karpoorigram.
Thakur is remembered in Bihar as a champion of social justice and pro-reservation politics, and staging the opening rally there sends a message that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intends to contest not only on development narratives but also to contest the terrain of social identity and backward class politics.
He became Chief Minister in December 1970 as leader of the Socialist Party, but his tenure did not last long, ending in around five months.
During the anti-Emergency movement of the seventies, Thakur worked very closely with Jayaprakash Narayan. After the Janata Party came to power, Thakur became Chief Minister of Bihar for the second time in June 1977. He chose to implement the Mungeri Lal Commission report, recommending reservations for Backward Castes in government jobs. This led to severe criticism among certain sections, which resulted in his exit in less than two years of the second term.
Today, Bihar’s caste survey results have highlighted the importance of backward groups in the state, whom political parties are wooing for their mandate. Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which comprise both Backward Castes (BCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), constitute over 63 per cent of Bihar’s population, according to the survey. Among them, EBCs account for roughly 36 per cent.
With about 112 sub-castes, they can sway election results in around 120 Assembly constituencies, especially Mithila, Magadh, and the Seemanchal (border) regions. Meanwhile, the survey pegged Yadavs at 14.26, Muslims at 17.7, and upper castes at 15.52 per cent among the state’s population.
Political leaders across the spectrum, including Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, have relied on EBC support. In the 1990s, Lalu included EBCs in his Muslim-Yadav (MY) equation to challenge upper-caste dominance, but through time, the EBCs felt sidelined as Yadav influence grew.
Bihar’s present Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has granted reservation for EBCs in jobs and education, including local governance, and introduced welfare measures like bicycles for schoolgirls and scholarships for Mahadalits, helping the NDA secure its position in the state.
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