An allegation of caste discrimination by Bihar's chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has shaken up the state's backward sections – a development that directly affects the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is hoping to consolidate the Hindu vote before the Assembly elections next year.
Manjhi set off a storm on the weekend when he spoke an event to commemorate the state's first Dalit chief minister, Bhola Shastri. Manjhi, himself a member of one of the state’s most backward castes, said that authorities in a temple in Madhubani district had ritually purified the shrine after he visited it last month.
Residents of the village in question, Anhada Tharhi, contradict this version of events. They say no such ties took place. But Manjihi's statement has been heatedly discussed, and after a studied two-day silence, the state BJP launched a broadside against Manjhi's Janata Dal-United government on Tuesday, accusing it of “trying to divide Hindu society”.
Rallying around
“The Chief Minister seems to have entered campaign mode almost a year before the assembly elections in the state,” BJP spokesperson Rameshwar Chaurasia told Scroll.in. “He is playing the Dalit card through this statement. He’s trying to divide Hindu society in Bihar, which has just been united under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” The BJP and its alliance partners won 31 of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats in this year’s election: this success that has been attributed to Narendra Modi consolidating the Hindu vote across caste boundaries.
Yet Manjhi’s party-members and alliance partners are adamant that this caste-based infraction took place, and are determined to have it investigated.
“The BJP talks so much about love jihad, which is nothing but a product of the Sangh Parivar’s imagination,” said Janata Dal-United leader Devendra Yadav, who has previously been the MP for the Lok Sabha constituency in which Anhada Tharhi falls. “But it does not find anything wrong with the caste-based social evils that start raising their head under the protection of this party. Instead of condemning these social evils, the BJP has started doing politics in the name of Hindu unity.”
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Mangani Lal Mandal said that the development in the temple has "merely exposed a very serious ailment in our society, one that had only become dormant in last few decades". Dalits are still being discriminated against by a section of upper castes and "those doing this have been emboldened by the ascendance of the BJP" Mandal alleged. "This is a serious issue and both the state and the centre should look into the allegations made by the Chief Minister.”
Code violation
Yadav said the chief minister told him about the incident immediately after it happened on August 18. “But I did not say anything because by-elections were to be held merely three days later in the state" on August 21, he said. “Any statement on that development would have been construed as violation of the election code of conduct.”
The state government has begun an inquiry into the incident, since several versions of what happened at Anhada Tharhi village on August 18 have already emerged.
In Bihar, the BJP has a predominantly upper-caste vote base, which constitutes only a small percentage of the state’s population. A polarisation of votes on the basis of caste would hurt the party’s electoral prospects significantly. The saffron party is well aware that it would be the main loser in such a situation.
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Manjhi set off a storm on the weekend when he spoke an event to commemorate the state's first Dalit chief minister, Bhola Shastri. Manjhi, himself a member of one of the state’s most backward castes, said that authorities in a temple in Madhubani district had ritually purified the shrine after he visited it last month.
Residents of the village in question, Anhada Tharhi, contradict this version of events. They say no such ties took place. But Manjihi's statement has been heatedly discussed, and after a studied two-day silence, the state BJP launched a broadside against Manjhi's Janata Dal-United government on Tuesday, accusing it of “trying to divide Hindu society”.
Rallying around
“The Chief Minister seems to have entered campaign mode almost a year before the assembly elections in the state,” BJP spokesperson Rameshwar Chaurasia told Scroll.in. “He is playing the Dalit card through this statement. He’s trying to divide Hindu society in Bihar, which has just been united under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” The BJP and its alliance partners won 31 of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats in this year’s election: this success that has been attributed to Narendra Modi consolidating the Hindu vote across caste boundaries.
Yet Manjhi’s party-members and alliance partners are adamant that this caste-based infraction took place, and are determined to have it investigated.
“The BJP talks so much about love jihad, which is nothing but a product of the Sangh Parivar’s imagination,” said Janata Dal-United leader Devendra Yadav, who has previously been the MP for the Lok Sabha constituency in which Anhada Tharhi falls. “But it does not find anything wrong with the caste-based social evils that start raising their head under the protection of this party. Instead of condemning these social evils, the BJP has started doing politics in the name of Hindu unity.”
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Mangani Lal Mandal said that the development in the temple has "merely exposed a very serious ailment in our society, one that had only become dormant in last few decades". Dalits are still being discriminated against by a section of upper castes and "those doing this have been emboldened by the ascendance of the BJP" Mandal alleged. "This is a serious issue and both the state and the centre should look into the allegations made by the Chief Minister.”
Code violation
Yadav said the chief minister told him about the incident immediately after it happened on August 18. “But I did not say anything because by-elections were to be held merely three days later in the state" on August 21, he said. “Any statement on that development would have been construed as violation of the election code of conduct.”
The state government has begun an inquiry into the incident, since several versions of what happened at Anhada Tharhi village on August 18 have already emerged.
In Bihar, the BJP has a predominantly upper-caste vote base, which constitutes only a small percentage of the state’s population. A polarisation of votes on the basis of caste would hurt the party’s electoral prospects significantly. The saffron party is well aware that it would be the main loser in such a situation.
