NEW DELHI: The 10-party delegation from Bihar which met
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Monday may have demanded a caste census but it also indicates an ever-changing power equation in the state. Behind the demand may be state chief minister
Nitish Kumar’s subtle show of strength and pressure tactics on the BJP.
Despite Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) being BJP’s alliance partner in the NDA governments that are running in Bihar and at the centre, it is at least the second time this month that he has tried to put the Modi government in a tight spot.
Earlier this month, the Bihar CM had demanded a probe into the controversial Pegasus spyware issue which was one of the major reasons for a near washout of the recently-concluded
Monsoon Session of Parliament.
While major opposition parties disrupted the functioning of both houses of Parliament over Pegasus snooping case, three farm laws and inflation, Nitish Kumar’s stand embarrassed the Modi government.
And now on August 23, Nitish led a delegation that included their rival Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD to demand a caste census.
This too has put the Modi government in an uncomfortable position as it does not seem to be favourably inclined towards conducting a caste census.
Union minister of state for home
Nityanand Rai specifically said in the Lok Sabha during the same Monsoon Session on July 20 that the centre had decided not to enumerate caste census. While replying to a written question, he said, "The state governments of Maharashtra and Odisha have requested to collect caste details in the forthcoming census. The government of India has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in census," he said.
Though Modi did not give any assurance to the Nitish Kumar-led delegation, which also included the BJP, the demand is aimed at putting pressure on the NDA government.
Ever since the NDA government came to power in Bihar in November 2020, there has been a demand from some quarters of the BJP for a change of CM. A section of the BJP seems restless to lead the coalition.
The BJP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) fought the 2020 Bihar assembly election as alliance partners. The BJP won 74 of the 110 seats it contested in the 243-member assembly - at a success rate of 67 per cent. On the other hand, the JD(U) was victorious on 43 of the 115 seats it contested - at a strike rate of 37 per cent.
Nitish Kumar became the CM despite his party winning a lesser number of seats because of the word given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah in this regard. Even before the elections, they had said Nitish would be the CM regardless of the number of seats the two parties individually won.
However, voices from the BJP are being raised at intervals demanding the installation of a BJP CM in place of Nitish Kumar.
This demand has echoes in the similar demand raised by the RJD after the Mahagathbandhan, including the JD(U) and the Congress, had come to power in the 2015 Bihar assembly election. Then too, the performance of Lalu Prasad-led RJD was better than that of the JD(U).
While the RJD was victorious on 80 seats, JD(U) won 71 seats and the Congress 27. Then too, Nitish Kumar became the CM because of a pre-poll understanding between the three parties. But RJD soon became restless and demands were raised for replacing him with the then deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.
Feeling uncomfortable in such a situation, Nitish broke JD(U)’s alliance with RJD and joined hands again with the BJP with which it had run governments in 2005 and 2010.
With the “replace Nitish” chorus growing in the BJP, the JD(U) de facto supremo may be exerting pressure on the Modi government through the Pegasus remarks and now the demand for caste census not to disturb him.