When Tarkishore Prasad, a member of the Back Caste, and Renu Devi of the Extremely Backward Caste (EBC), sat next to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the podium in the Rajendra auditorium during the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhawan in Patna , the message was loud and clear: the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken on the role of “Big Brother” (Bade Bhai) in Bihar.
The presence of the Union Interior Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda in the front row of the auditorium only confirmed that it heralded the beginning of a new era of NDA politics in Bihar. The BJP, which has become the largest party among four NDA allies, was in triumphant mode and nearly took over the entire program, keeping Nitish Kumar dejected from the ceremonies.
With two main deputy ministers, the BJP has also assumed the position of president of the state assembly this time. BJP Senior Leader and former Minister Nand Kishore Yadav is set to take office, signaling a fundamental shift in the party’s Bihar strategy.
The BJP also played the perfect caste card in cabinet formation, as the caste configuration of the first set of Bihar’s cabinet reflects a change in social strategy. The backward castes and EBCs have received prominence by elevating Tarkishore Prasad, one Bania per caste, and Renu Devi, a Nonia who falls into the EBC category, as senior vice ministers.
For 15 years, the BJP only had Sushil Kumar Modi as its chief deputy minister. This time, Modi has stayed out of Bihar politics, especially after the declaration of the survey results. He is likely to be elevated to national politics as a union minister.
The saffron party also tried to keep the Yadavs in good spirits by incorporating Ram Surat Rai and a member of the SC from northern Bihar, Rampreet Paswan, into the council of ministers. The upper castes in the cabinet include Mangal Pandey (Brahmin), Jivesh Mishra (Bhumihar), and Amarendra Pratap Singh (Rajput).
The Janata Dal (U) headed by Nitish Kumar, who belongs to the powerful Kurmi caste, has represented a Bhumihar (Vijay Kumar Choudhary) among the upper castes, a Yadav (Vijendra Prasad Yadav) and a Kushwaha (Mewalal Choudhary) among the backward castes, a rookie female member of the EBC (Shila Mandal) and a Scheduled Caste (Ashok Choudhary).
The Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) has been represented by Santosh Suman, son of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi who belongs to the Musahar caste among the SC. Vikassheel Insaan (VIP) Party chief Mukesh Sahani, who belongs to the numerically dominant Mallah (fishermen) community among the EBCs, has been appointed minister despite losing the polls.
The change in the caste pattern is perceptible as the social construction of the new Bihar Assembly has changed with an increase in the number of Extremely Backward Castes, Vaishyas and female legislators and a reciprocal decline in those of Yadavas and Muslims. Given that 21 more ministers are expected to join, the BJP and JD (U) will have to develop a formula to give adequate representation to their social base in the near future.
The most striking feature of the cabinet formation is the absence of a Muslim face in the council of ministers. The NDA does not have a Muslim face, as the 11 candidates presented by the JD (U) have lost. The BJP has not put forward any Muslim candidates in Bihar. “The JD (U) has a couple of Muslim members in the Legislative Council who can be given a cabinet seat later,” said a JD (U) leader.
The 2020 elections saw a substantial decrease in the number of Muslim lawmakers in Bihar. In total, 19 Muslim legislators have won this time against 24 MLAs in the 2015 elections. There are seven Muslim MLAs from RJD, four from Congress, two from CPI-ML, five from AIMIM and one from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The BJP leaders have substantive reasons on the ground to be on the offensive, as the JD (U) leadership in Bihar has first weakened after 2013, when Nitish Kumar unequivocally opposed the elevation of Narendra Modi as candidate for prime minister. They had interpreted Kumar’s decision to oppose Modi’s rise to national prominence as an example of calculated opportunism.
Despite a clear victory in successive Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s strategy in Bihar has been to keep the JD (U) leaders in good spirits and maintain popular faith in the NDA government at all costs. A pre-poll internal poll by BJP pollsters had presented an optimistic picture for the BJP should the JD (U) exit the NDA and do so only in assembly polls.
The new breed of BJP leaders, who are in the process of gradually assuming state leadership, have noted that Kumar has been the biggest beneficiary of the BJP-JD (U) alliance. After the alliance was formed, Kumar was appointed Union Minister of Agriculture and then Minister of Railways when the NDA was in power for six years.
Thereafter, the BJP projected him as the main ministerial candidate in the November 2005 elections in Bihar. Annoyed with the Lalu-Rabri regime, the Kumar-led NDA was voted into power with a clear majority. Since then, Kumar has proven to be a skilled administrator and a smart politician who flourished unhindered under the NDA umbrella.
Before the 2014 parliamentary elections, the JD (U) had left the NDA and had contested the 2015 Bihar assembly elections in alliance with RJD. The then grand alliance of RJD, JD (U) and Congress had formed the government in the state as well, but the political scene changed in 2017 with the JD (U) returning to the NDA.
Having won the Bihar elections, the BJP emphatically wants to enter West Bengal and therefore appointed Tarkishore Prasad as the main deputy minister. Prasad belongs to Katihar with a substantial Bengali-speaking population bordering West Bengal.
The saffron group has set a goal of winning more than 200 seats in the 294-member Bengal assembly. With Bihar finished and dusted off, the BJP is putting the final touches on its electoral strategy and is targeting fringe areas bordering Bihar, Tripura and Assam for the West Benagal assembly elections to be held in April-May next. year.
In fact, the BJP was awaiting the results of the Bihar assembly poll before beginning its final assault on the Mamata Bannerjee government. The saffron group has already made inroads into Bengal by winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Disclaimer:(The author is a senior journalist. Opinions expressed are personal)
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