Aiming to make substantial dents in the ruling JD(U)’s proven support base of mahadalit communities in Bihar, the Opposition BJP has begun working on an elaborate strategy well before the Lok Sabha polls, hoping to cement its ties with these marginalised communities.
Mahadalits, who account for close to 15 per cent of Bihar’s population, remain a formidable electoral force and the JD(U), having created this category out of the dalits to offer them a host of special welfare schemes, is confident of their loyalties. They become more powerful as a vote base when combined with the EBCs, who make up for 35 per cent of the state’s population and are believed to be mainly JD(U) supporters.
The BJP precisely plans to attack the grand alliance chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar strategically formed since 2007 between non-Yadav OBCs and the Mahadalits to defeat the RJD of Lalu Prasad Yadav and the LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan in two major statewide polls. Even as the minority votes remain a problem area for the BJP in Bihar, the saffron party first wants to destroy the caste equation Kumar assiduously built and exploited but never boasted of publicly. Having already planned to hoist the national flag at the mahadalit hamlets across Bihar on Independence Day with senior state leaders attending the programmes, the BJP is planning to organise public meetings among the mahadalit communities at the district level.