Bihar: Nitish Kumar Aims to Attract Dalit Votes With New Strategy

In a fresh bid to reassert its influence over Dalit voters in Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) will hold a Bhim Sansad on 26 November 2024.

The date marks the official adoption of the Indian Constitution in 1949, a day now synonymous with celebrating B.R. Ambedkar’s contributions to the document.

For political parties, it presents an opportunity to position themselves as followers of Ambedkar and by extension, champions of Dalit rights.

The JD(U) held a similar Sansad last year. However, despite the Kumar government’s release of a caste survey, the event failed to build momentum. Instead, the 2023 Sansad made headlines for demanding Special Category Status (SCS) for the state.

This year’s event will be organised under the leadership of Ashok Choudhary, the Bihar Minister of Rural Works. Choudhary has also announced plans to organise a Dalit Mahakumbh on 14 April 2025.

Confirming the political motive behind these events, Choudhary said, "We will try to consolidate Dalit voters in favour of the NDA ahead of the assembly elections. Our chief minister, Nitish Kumar, has a history of empowering Dalits during his tenure, through measures such as the categorisation of Dalits, the caste census, and introducing specific government schemes for the betterment of the community."

Choudhary was recently promoted to national general secretary of JD(U) - a move seen as Kumar’s attempt to project him as a potential successor should the party need to present a Dalit candidate for chief minister in the future.

According to the latest caste survey conducted by the Bihar government, Dalits make up 19.65 per cent of Bihar’s population. However, Dalit politics has struggled to establish itself as a distinct force in Bihar’s political landscape.

In the 1990s, the majority of Dalits aligned with Lalu Yadav, who positioned himself as an anti-feudal leader. The only major exception were the Paswans, who supported Ram Vilas Paswan, although Paswan’s interest in state politics was limited.

Other prominent Dalit leaders like Shyam Rajak and Jitan Ram Manjhi were also largely reduced to vote-pullers within Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Later, Nitish Kumar’s government implemented several initiatives targeting Dalits, particularly by creating the "Mahadalit" category, which included 23 out of 24 Dalit sub-castes, excluding the influential Paswan community.

A Mahadalit Commission was established to address the needs of these marginalised groups, with land allocation being a key focus. Each Dalit family was granted three decimals of land, although critics, such as Ram Vilas Paswan, dismissed this as insufficient and problematic.

To promote education, the state offered Rs 10,000 to Dalit students who passed their exams in the first division.

Kumar also introduced 18 per cent reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in panchayat bodies, leading to the election of over 1,400 Dalit mukhiyas.

Additional social welfare schemes included housing, healthcare, and livelihood support, aiming to uplift Mahadalits.

Nitish also sought to honour Dalit leaders, proposing, for instance, that a park be named after Bhola Paswan Shastri - former Bihar chief minister and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha.

These initiatives helped his government gain support from the most marginalised sections of the Dalit community.

However, once Kumar left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), relations between JD(U) and Dalit voters deteriorated. Jitan Ram Manjhi, who temporarily replaced Kumar as chief minister, left JD(U) to form his own party, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).

Similarly, Shyam Rajak, who had defected from RJD to join JD(U), left the party in 2020.

Following the death of Ram Vilas Paswan, his son, Chirag Paswan, turned against Nitish in the 2020 assembly elections.

Kumar now faces significant challenges in regaining Dalit support, as their votes are scattered across smaller parties.

For instance, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJP(RV)) has become JD(U)’s primary rival within the NDA, winning five out of five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar during the 2024 general election.

LJP(RV) is now the main political force for Dusadhs (Paswans), who comprise 5.31 per cent of the state’s population. In the absence of a consensus between the BJP and JD(U), and with no clear chief ministerial candidate in the party, Paswan could be a viable chief minister option for BJP, if he expands his focus on state politics.

Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has also positioned himself as a champion of Dalit dignity, taking on Lalu Yadav and his sons, Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav, in defence of his caste pride.

Manjhi, who belongs to the Musahar community (3.09 per cent of the state’s population), is now manoeuvring politically to pave the way for his son’s future.

Meanwhile, Prashant Kishor’s slogan, 'Jiski Jitni Abaadi, Uski Utni Hissedari' (proportional representation based on population), has become another headache for Kumar. Kishor’s attempt to replicate Nitish’s pro-development politics of 2005 could attract Dalit voters to his Jan Suraj Party (JSP).

The JSP has appointed Manoj Bharti, a former Indian Foreign Services officer and a Dalit, as its first president. Furthermore, in response to Ambedkar’s growing popularity among Dalits, the party will feature his image on its flags.

The complexity of Dalit politics in Bihar has already shown cracks with differing views on sub-classification of quotas. It is not going to be easy for Kumar to get them on board for Bihar assembly election 2025.