Does RJD have a Dalit problem? As Lalu Prasad faces fire, why his party has so few SC faces
In 1969, a young Lalu Prasad, then a student at Patna University, participated in his first political rally led by socialist leader Shivanand Tiwari to protest against the Shankaracharya's alleged derogatory remarks about Dalits, effectively starting his political career by taking up the cause of the community.
Over five-and-a-half decades later, the RJD chief and former Bihar Chief Minister finds himself at the centre of a controversy for allegedly 'insulting' Dr B R Ambedkar by placing his portrait on the floor during his birthday celebrations on June 11.
Lalu, during his almost six-decade political career, has traversed from being an OBC (Other Backward Classes) voice against the Congress's dominant upper-caste politics to a socialist leader in 1990, when he championed the cause of the 'garib gurba (poor people)' during his first term as CM between 1990 and 1995. 'He began his politics by taking up the Dalit cause. Since then, he has risen in politics and cultivated his support base. Years later, he still remains a big force in the state's politics,' Tiwari told The Indian Express, adding that the BJP's love for Ambedkar was 'newfound and purely driven by politics'.
Lalu's politics saw a marked shift after the 1995 Assembly polls, as he began cultivating an exclusive Muslim-Yadav support base. After he stepped down as CM over his alleged involvement in the fodder scam and his wife Rabri Devi took over in 1997, the RJD began sporting a more Muslim-Yadav look with the presence of some upper-caste leaders such as former MPs Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Jagdanand Singh (who recently stepped down as RJD state president), and Prabhunath Singh.
By the time the Assembly polls of 2000 approached, Lalu's politics had completed its three-tier shift from 'Mandalisation' to 'secularisation' to 'Yadavaisation'.
The RJD chief also tried to cultivate the support of Dalits, who form 19.65% of the state's population, by making Ramai Ram, a Dalit leader from Muzaffarpur who had joined the RJD in 2000, the party's state president. 'It (Ram's appointment) was mere tokenism as Muslims and Yadavs continued to be the core voter base of the RJD after the 2000 Assembly polls, which saw the party field many candidates from the two communities. It was difficult for Lalu to consolidate Dalit voters as by that time (LJP founder) Ram Vilas Paswan emerged as the main stakeholder of the Paswan community while the Ravidas community was firmly behind the Congress and continues to be,' said political analyst Sanjay Kumar.
Though Lalu's son and former Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has renewed the party's push to consolidate Dalit votes with this 'inclusive politics' pitch since taking over ahead of the 2020 Assembly polls, prominent RJD leaders from the community have either quit the party or have been lying low. For instance, former Speaker Uday Narayan Choudary has been out of the spotlight while former minister Shyam Rajak left the RJD last August. Of the 76 RJD MLAs, only six are from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities.
As the video of the alleged insult went viral, the NDA lapped up the opportunity to target the RJD chief, who was issued a notice by the Bihar State Commission for Scheduled Castes on June 13. A day later, Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary criticised Lalu, as did Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on June 16. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes issued a notice to the former CM on June 19.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address in Siwan on Friday, targeted the RJD chief. 'The RJD has no respect for Dalits and OBCs. They insult Baba Saheb … I know these people will never apologise, because they have no respect for Dalits and the backward classes in their hearts. The RJD and Congress put Baba Saheb's picture at their feet, Modi keeps him in his heart … The people of Bihar will never forget this insult,' he said.
The RJD said the allegations had been 'stretched beyond imagination'. 'The PM tried to take a dig at our national president but forgot that last December, the Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) made a very indecent comment on Ambedkar during his Rajya Sabha address. Don't Shah's comments amount to trivialising and disrespecting Ambedkar? The PM's silence speaks volumes about his insincerity towards the principles and values Baba Saheb stood for,' RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha told The Indian Express.¯
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