Living with the Caste: Everyday Life & Politics in Bihar

 

I was in my native village in East Champaran, near the Indo-Nepal border. One day, I travelled to Bettiah and Bagaha to learn about a social venture initiated by our friend. I will write more about that mission later, but for now, I want to share something else. My friend sent a car for me to reach his place; this journey took over two hours. During the trip, I asked the driver his name. He politely shared his name (Mohan) & proudly mentioned his caste identity, Bania. 

This led to an endless conversation about caste, party politics and social justice in everyday life while our wheels were moving towards the destination.  When I proposed the subject of caste with him to share his thoughts, he keenly stated, "Sir, before Lalu Yadav's government in Bihar, our caste faced enormous challenges as a lower caste." He went on without stopping, and I was extremely fascinated by his perspective and understanding of the social justice efforts undertaken by Lalu Prasad Yadav.

 

This was a kind of treat for me to listen, to his acumen and rational approach to equality, justice and of course constitutional values. He has only completed his education till 12^th class. He has not read or listened about Karl Marx, Lenin, Derrida or Michel Foucault. However, his political thoughts was far better than many of us, who have university degrees on entire political science.  

In 1990, Lalu Prasad Yadav became the Chief Minister of Bihar and this was a big shift in the politics of Bihar. Lalu Yadav tried to implement the idea of social justice for the marginalized sections of society, which is promised in our Constitution and he ensured the participation of the weaker sections of society in the democratic process/ representation.  He is one of the leaders in India who never collaborated with communal forces.

 Mohan also shared about his current residence when he underlined “Sir, I am staying in one of the colonies in Motihari, where most of the residents belong from the dominant caste Hindus".    

Mohan tried to recall Lalu Yadav's speeches during his tenure as CM of Bihar, where Lalu's connection with the most disadvantaged caste was extraordinary, he had shown saahas (courage), by speaking truth to power, in the public, which gave not only bust but also gave assurance for strong action against the perpetrators of caste based violence. 

Our conversation went deep, with my question, what went wrong during the Lalu's regime? His answer was quick, he tried to blame two people for the all mess, so called Gunda Raj. His first name was Lalu's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav and his second name was Mohammad Shahabuddin, who was a member of Parliament from Siwan and close aide of Lalu Yadav. 

Then, I had an interesting talk on the so-called Bihar's 'bahubali netas'. He also dropped Devendra Dubey name, who was Bahubali from the Areraj block of the east Champaran. He shared about the Devendra Dubey's being benevolent for the poor. Dubey's emergence in purvi champaran, out of a caste confrontation between Brahman and Rajput, led to many bloody battles in which – Dubey was killed. This was also a time when the nexus between politicians and bahubalis was visible in the arena of Bihar politics. This was a kind of lateral entry for gangsters in electoral politics. The caste of gangsters was being worked in their favour. 

How can one not talk about the just concluded high voltage general election 2024? In Bihar everyone would have their political opinion, like an expert on the subject. We had a discussion on the election exclusively on the three Lok Sabha seats. Those were the Sitamarhi, Sheohar and Purvi champaran Lok Sabha constituencies, where the INDIA alliance lost all three segments of the lower house. He was upset about this defeat of the INDIA block candidates because all three contestants from the INDIA block were from the ‘backward community. With an agitated voice and pain, he shared that it was difficult to digest why they lost their seats despite the overwhelming support, and after a few seconds of silence, he told me that there are lack of awareness and unity amongst the backward caste about their own ‘haq’ (rights) and ‘pratinidhitv’ (representation). Three candidates, who lost from Purvi champaran, Sheohar and Sitamarhi, were Dr Rajesh Kumar, Ritu Jaiswal and Arjun Ray.

The social and political confrontations are real in the day to day business in Bihar. One can understand the situation of these seats with the statement given by the Janata Dal (United)’s MP elected from the Sitamarhi Lok Sabha seat, who comes from the so-called upper caste Devesh Chandra Thakur. On June 17 he reiterated that Muslims and  Yadavs did not vote for him, and he will not do their “personal work”. One can sense how elections are being fought in Bihar. The caste identity is deeply rooted in everyday life.   

Devesh Chandra Takur's statement has highlighted issues regarding political representation in our country. Moreover, importance of political representation in the democratic county.  

Many disadvantaged social groups still struggling to secure meaningful representation in the legislature. In some cases, their presence is merely symbolic. For example, in the current Lok Sabha, Bihar has only five women MPs out of its 40 seats. The 2023 Bihar Caste Based Survey reveals that Muslims constitute 17.70% of Bihar's population, yet only two Muslim MPs have been elected, with none from the Pasmanda Muslim community. Furthermore, while Scheduled Castes make up 19.65% of Bihar's population, only six MPs from this group have reached Parliament through reserved constituencies. 

This is high time to examine the political representations in the legislations not only in the Bihar but also at the national level, when people from all walks of life will represent in the legislations. Ambedkar’s Proposal needs to be relooked; As Ambedkar articulated a detailed framework for the political representation of social and religious minorities. This framework was founded on the principles of balanced representation, the rule of unanimity, and the principles of faith and confidence.