With the Assembly elections in Bihar nearing, all parties are competing to woo the voters of Scheduled Castes or Dalits. The 14 per cent Dalit population in the State had been voting for non-Congress and non-BJP parties — mainly the RJD and JD(U) — but, recent developments are giving indications that they may, if not at a large scale, change their political affiliation in the all crucial winter elections.
Jitan Ram Manjhi, who served as Chief Minister of the JD(U) Government for nine months till February last, has the potential to emerge as a big Dalit leader with his image of a ‘martyr’ and he is trying his best to garner bulk of Dalit votes in his favour. Currently, he is heading the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and may float his political party soon.
If Manjhi succeeds in his bid, his party may eat into the JD(U)’s vote share. However, the JD(U) leaders, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, brushed aside suggestions. “Manjhi has no appeal among the Dalits. If he had, the JD(U) legislators belonging to this community should have sided with him, but this did not happen,” claimed Bihar Minister Shyam Rajak, a Dalit and Nitish supporter.
However, Manjhi supporters claimed that the community would teach Nitish a lesson in the elections for humiliating their leader. Almost all parties, including the BJP, and the new party floated by the RJD and JD(U) together, are vying each other to impress the Scheduled Castes. All these parties observed the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar with aplomb this year.
“The BJP is aggressively trying to woo Dalits much to the discomfort of other parties which thought they hold sway over the Dalits. This caste in Bihar associated itself with the social justice movement since early 90s but the RJD and later on JD(U)) gave only “chatni” (pickle) to them and wanted that they remained hooked up,” said political analyst Shivanand Tiwary, a former aide of both lalu Prasad and Nitish.