JAN SURAJ FALLS IN THE RUT OF CASTE POLITICS IN BIHAR
Prashant Kishor (PK), the founder leader of the Jan Suraj political party and an MLA, recently ridiculed Brahmins of Bihar (especially those of Mithila region) for politically and electorally distancing themselves from Muslims and switching their allegiance to the BJP.
Deeply schooled in the former Congress party tradition, he was suggesting a realignment of Brahmin-Muslim and SC/ST alliance that kept the old Congress party in power for a long time.
WHAT PK SHOULD LEARN FROM HISTORY OF BIHAR?
In the 70’s when Lalit Narain Mishra, a Union Minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet, was elected Lok Sabha MP from Darbhanga constituency by blatantly misusing all federal ministerial power and of course with the help of Muslim voters, a popular slogan raised in victory parades (mainly composed of Maithil Brahmins and Muslims) rent the air: MAITHIL-MUSLIM BHAI, BHAI; AUR JAAT KAHAAN SE AAYEE? (The Maithil Brahmins and Muslims are blood brothers in the face of other castes), implying the parentage of Maithil Brahmins and Muslims was the same.
As expected, this divisive slogan angered all Hindu castes! The BJP, later a constituent of the Janata Party, had a considerable following among the Maithil Brahmins. The party, because of its emphasis on Hindutwa, was already trying to wean Maithil Brahmins away from Muslims.
When Lalu Yadav came to the helm of power in Bihar, his Muslim-Yadav (MY) equation took Muslims away from the Congress alliance. Disruption of Maithil Brahmin-Muslims and SC/ST political-electoral alliance had become inevitable in the wake of the Emergency imposed by Mrs Indira Gandhi and its excesses like forced sterilization pioneered by Sanjay Gandhi. It created panic among the Muslims.
THE PATH FORWARD
There have been so many socio-economic-political and criminal dimensions to Bihar politics that Biharis belonging to all caste, creed and faith needed to revisit the lessons learnt during the JP-led anti-Emergency, anti-crime / corruption and pro-Electoral reforms movement.
A talented and promising Bihari young leader, Prashant Kishor, born during the Emergency (1977), should have devoted his full energy and resources to a people’s movement aimed at reconstruction of the polity of Bihar and India. Instead, he chose to take himself and his newly-founded political party into the rut of caste and communal electoral politics.
BIHAR’S MOUNTING CHALLENGES
The basics of Bihar politics (and of India) are so corrupted, convoluted, criminalized, hijacked or stolen that all right thinking people of Bihar would rather prefer to move out of Bihar, thus, leaving the province deeper in the hole.
With an overwhelmingly depraved, unprincipled and venal society, Bihar has grown increasingly immoral-unethical and unscrupulous over a long period of time now (owing to bankrupt ideology, socio-political leadership, dominance of crime and corruption or absence of rule of law and justice system).
PK’s current vision could only get him and his party a few MLAs and MPs, but it couldn’t make any fundamental change for the betterment of Bihar.
His exhortation to the Maithil Brahmins to win over the hearts and minds of Muslims to get pre-dominance in politics wouldn’t fly: The already theologically knowledgeable Maithil Brahmins of the region are aware of their distance from a strong voting group that demands special treatment based on its number and faith. Muslims, as a bloc, will be open to ally with any social-political group that would give them an edge over the pro-Hindutva BJP.
[Originally from Darbhanga, Bihar (India), Dr Binoy Shanker Prasad lives in Dundas, Ontario (Canada). He is a former UGC teacher fellow at JNU in India and a Fulbright Scholar in the USA. Author of scholarly works including a book, “Violence Against Minorities”, “Gandhi in the Age of Globalization” (a monograph) and a collection of poems”, Dr Prasad has taught at Ryerson University, Centennial College and McMaster University. He has also been the president of Hamilton based India-Canada Society (2006-08 and 2018-20)]
