FFrom ROM IAS officers associations to Dalit organizations including those abroad Global AmbedkariteStrongly objected to the acquittal of Bihar’s mafia-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh, convicted for the 1994 murder of Dalit IAS officer G Krishnaiah, the then District Magistrate of Gopalganj. Mohan’s release could potentially tarnish the public image of the Bihar Grand Alliance parties on the issue of social justice, and hamper their campaign to save democracy and the Constitution.
Then why would the JD(U)-RJD) Bihar government take such a decision and its alliance partners – Congress, HAM, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML) – agree to it? Let us decode this conundrum by examining the social and political messages behind the Bihar government’s decision to release Anand Mohan Singh, who belongs to the Rajput community.
seek new caste alliance
The government’s decision was not accidental – it had been planning for a long time behind the scenes to release the convicted murderer. in a video Free By Ved Prakash, a Dalit journalist from Bihar on 16 April 2022 Chief Minister Nitish Kumar can be seen pacifying Mohan’s supporters at a rally by saying that they support the state government’s efforts for his release from the gangster’s wife (Lovely Anand) ask about.
It seems like a well thought out plan has been put in place keeping in mind the possible pros and cons of this decision. CM Kumar and his administration must have anticipated the potential public outcry, especially from the Dalit community. But it didn’t matter to him. The question arises why?
According to reportsMohan is likely to be left to consolidate Bihar’s 5.2 per cent Rajput voters, who are crucial in eight Lok Sabha constituencies – Maharajganj, Aurangabad, East Champaran, Vaishali, Sheohar, Buxar, Arrah and Banka.
The RJD-JDU alliance desperately needs the support of Rajput voters as the BJP is rumored to induct Chirag Paswan into the Union Council of Ministers, which may shift Dalit voters towards the BJP.
To allay this fear, the RJD-JDU alliance is looking for a new social nexus of Yadav-Kurmi-Muslim-Rajput. Except for the Muslims, all these communities enjoy equal social status. Before the politics of Mandal and Mandir began, their strategic alliance had overthrown Congress governments in several states. The most prominent example of this may be Charan Singh’s Azgar (Ahir-Jat-Gurjar-Rajput) mobilization, which led to the defeat of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh in the 1967 elections.
Mandal and temple politics broke this alliance, but these parties seem to be working seriously on the alliance again. To do this, a new slogan of curd-chooda (curd and puffed rice) is coined in Bihar. Curd represents the Yadavas and bangle represents the Rajputs.
Since the voting behavior of Muslims is primarily guided by the idea of defeating BJP candidates rather than their material advancement, these parties only need to materially empower Yadavs, Kurmis and Rajputs. Yadavs and Kurmis are already with RJD and JDU, so they only need to mobilize Rajputs.
The alliance could have mobilized the Rajput voters by elevating another leader from the community but did not do so for two possible reasons. First, with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections fast approaching, there is not enough time to propel a new leader who can rapidly grow in rank and profile within the community.
Second, in the 1980s, Anand Mohan was considered a leader equal to Lalu Prasad Yadav. I am told that the two were considered arch rivals when the former declared that he would overthrow the latter. Lalu Prasad used to reply in a sarcastic tone,I am not carrot-radish Nahu, as if it goes on, it will be uprooted. (I am not a carrot-and-reddish to be uprooted.) Hence, a section of the Rajput community may still fantasize about Mohan being their domineering leader, and the alliance seeks to materialize this fantasy.
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power without power
Bihar’s financial condition has been shaky for decades and parties have been demanding special central assistance to bail it out. Even after this the situation has not improved. Meanwhile, RJD has made several promises during the election campaign like providing 10 lakh government jobs. So far only two lakh teacher posts have been advertised and that too is stuck Controversy,
I am told that a prominent OBC intellectual from South India has approached the Bihar government with a proposal to start English classes for backward caste students. Senior ministers reportedly refused to accept the proposal due to paucity of funds.
Similarly, a section of Bihari students from Delhi, who also have admission offers to pursue LLM at SOAS, by Piyush Anand, requested state education minister Chandrashekhar and state deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav to launch fellowships for students to study abroad. contacted to. campaign was also launched on social media. Neighboring states have already started this scheme, but the minister of Bihar has refused to do so. However, at an annual function of Patna Women’s College in February, Tejashwi Yadav announced That the government will send the top 100 students of the University of Bihar to study abroad. Recently news has come to the fore that the government is considering giving financial loans for studies abroad. This further confirms that the state lacks funds to materially empower its core support groups.
When the Bihar government cannot materially empower its core constituents, it can make them feel powerless and also prevent the development of marginalized communities by discouraging law enforcement agencies from taking appropriate action, when the core Support group members do something wrong. Perhaps this explains why the law and order situation deteriorated under OBC leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar and Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh.
The decision to release Anand Mohan should be seen as a signal to the police and local authorities to desist from taking strict action against petty criminals of certain castes, as the government is completely lenient towards gangsters from these communities. The move can also be seen as an attempt to encourage the Yadavs and Kurmis, the main support groups of the RJD and JDU, to develop better relations with the Rajputs, which was not the case earlier.
Read also: Nitish Kumar government is anti-Dalit because it released Anand Mohan from jail: Ramdas Athawale
anti dalit measures
Apart from giving a free hand to its core support base, the RJD-JDU government seems to have adopted a series of anti-Dalit measures to prevent material advancement of marginalized groups. most notorious of these ending Payment of post-matric scholarship to SC/ST students on the pretext of paucity of funds. This scholarship has provided Dalit students with avenues to ensure upward mobility – even if it means mobility only from agricultural laborers to rural or urban laborers.
The independence of Dalits has challenged the rural hierarchy of agricultural castes. And to reverse this process the dominant castes often resort to violent means. When the leaders of these ‘upper caste’ communities assume political power and form the government, they take policy measures to disempower Dalits. Such steps give them the psychological satisfaction that a community is below them.
And so, the Bihar government’s strategic move to release mafia-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh is guided by its political calculation to forge a new social alliance of Yadav-Kurmi-Muslim-Rajput voters. But there is hardly any room for the most marginalized in this coalition. And political parties like RJD-JDU will continue to resort to such steps until they develop a concrete economic policy of development.
Arvind Kumar, PhD Scholar in the Department of Politics, IR and Philosophy; and Visiting Tutor at the Department of Law and Criminology, Royal Holloway, University of London. Associate Fellow of the Academy of Higher Education, United Kingdom.