Patna, Mar 12 : The general perception is that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar wants to win the election on the plank of development. The truth, however, is something else too. Within a couple of months of taking over on November 24, 2005 Nitish took the first step in changing the socio-political combination in his favour. So he increased the reservation of women in the local bodies election from 33 per cent to 50 per cent and fixed 20 per cent quota for the Extreme Backward Castes.

The purpose was clear. First to minimize the strong presence of the old caste-community combination at the grass-root level of democracy and replace them with another set of elected representatives. After this move the new state government entrusted various responsibilities on the Mukhiyas, for example, the appointment of para-teachers.

The coming parliamentary election would be a litmus test for this formula. Nitish tried to sew a political alliance between Extreme Backward Castes and Upper Castes.

However, he did not remain contend with this move. He set up a Mahadalit Commission with the purpose of making a big inroads into the Dalit vote bank of Bihar. It would be wrong to say that Dalits always voted for Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar. Unlike in UP, here the Dalit votes used to get divided among the LJP, RJD, CPI ML and even BJP-Janata Dal (United). In the western part of the state adjoining UP Bahujan Samaj Party also makes its presence felt.

Fully aware of this fact Nitish played his card carefully and tried to win over the support of the weakest of the Dalits sub-castes. He excluded four out of 22 Dalit sub-castes and the rest were clubbed into the group called Mahadalits. The Dussadhs (Paswan), Ravidas (also known as Chamar), Dhobi and Pasi were considered as the creamy layer of the Dalits. So the state government started wooing the rest 18 sub castes on the plea that they are completely disempowered.

Apparently there is nothing wrong in this formula. But there was the other side of the story too. It provided an opportunity to the other political parties to accuse Nitish of dividing the Dalits for sheer political gain.

But dividing the community on caste or community lines is nothing new in the Indian politics. However, a few months after this crafty move those within the Janata Dal (United) started realizing that this step may backfire too, provided the rival camp close its ranks.

It needs to be mentioned that Schedule Caste form 15.1 per cent of the state population. And almost half––or even more––of this percentage come from the four castes, which the Nitish establishment excluded. Dussadhs and Chamars alone form more than 6.5 per cent population. Besides, numerical superiority these two castes are the most empowered ones among Dalits. It is these two castes among the Dalits who really dare to vote. Paswans are numerically very influential in at least three parliamentary constituencies of North Bihar. So are the Chamars. The latter have sizeable presence in the west Bihar too.

If the RJD and LJP really join hands it means that this time the Dalit votes would not get split into a number of parties, but would get polarized in two alliances. If the UPA works well and LJP and RJD do not fight among themselves they may end up getting 7-8 per cent of the votes of these four Dalit sub castes.

As the Chamars and Paswans are angry over what they say the Nitish Kumar government’s attempt to divide the Dalits the CPI ML and BSP may be the loser in this polarized battle. Among Mahadalits, Musahars form a big chunk, but they are too weak to assert and challenge the authority of Dussadh and Chamars on the Dalit leadership. For this the Mahadalits need the support of the establishment.Only time will tell how the Mahadalit move may pay.