See through our eyes, not your ears.

Nitish move to cast out Paswan, call Chamars Mahadalit

PATNA — Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar might have won the masses on the plank of development, but caste politics is still alive and kicking in Bihar. Politics of caste is blatant rather than latent, as three caste-based leaders – Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish Kumar are fighting it out to create their own ’secure’ vote-bank.

In a clear move to eviscerate LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan as Dalit leader, Nitish Kumar led NDA government on Tuesday decided to include Chamars in the Mahadalit category. The state Cabinet here on Tuesday accepted the recommendation of the State Mahadalit Commission in this regard.

Leaving Dusadhs – a dominant caste among the Scheduled Castes (SC), the NDA government in Bihar has now accorded Mahadalit status to all SC groups. Paswan belongs to Dusadh caste.

With this inclusion the government has included 21 of the 22 Dalit castes in the Mahadalit list. In July, the government had included two Dalit castes – Pasi and Dhobi, in the Mahadalit category.

Of the total scheduled caste population of 1.3 crore in Bihar as per the 2001 census, Chamar caste accounts for 31.34 per cent. The four SC castes – Dusadh, Pasi, Dhobi and Chamar constitute 69% of the Dalit population in the state. Other 18 Mahadalit castes are – Bantar, Bauri, Bhogta, Bhuiyan, Chaupal, Dabgar, Dom, Ghasi, Halalkhor, Hadi, Kanjar, Kuraria, Lalbegi, Mushar, Nat, Pan, Rajwar and Turi.

Ramvilas Paswan, who is rejuvenating his Dalit Sena after LJP’s Lok Sabha debacle, has protested against the exclusion of Dusadh caste in the Mahadalit list accusing Nitish Kumar of dividing Dalits.

The government is going to spend Rs 815.06 crore on Mahadalits like free land, house, among other welfare schemes. The government would also provide community halls, community colour televisions and a transistor radio to each family in every Mahadalit locality.

Nitish Kumar, who won the mandate to return Bihar to the sane society and to cleanse the system of the festering wounds that the previous regime left behind, has made concentrated efforts to consolidate non-Ahir votebank. He is also deftly eating into Lalu’s vote bank by wooing Muslims. The strategy is to make big inroads in the socially neglected classes and win them over before the Assembly elections.