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Legacy line-up: Bihar parties vie for marking subaltern icon Karpoori’s 101th birthday on Friday

By, Patna
Jan 23, 2025 05:54 PM IST

In Bihar, political parties are celebrating Karpoori Thakur's 101st birth anniversary to claim his legacy ahead of upcoming assembly polls.

In Bihar, as the momentum is building up for the assembly polls slated for later this year, political parties are searching all avenues to make inroads into voters. The latest is the 101st birth anniversary celebrations of socialist leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Karpooriji Thakur, who was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna last year by the Union government. All the major political parties have decided to celebrate the anniversary in a big way on today (Friday).

Legacy line-up: Bihar parties vie for marking subaltern icon Karpoori’s 101th birthday on Friday
Legacy line-up: Bihar parties vie for marking subaltern icon Karpoori’s 101th birthday on Friday

The race to claim the Karpoori’s legacy is not new, as the late socialist leader is regarded as the harbinger of subaltern revolution in the state politics that finds its echo till date due to the strong influence of the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs).

Last year, while participating in the centenary celebrations of Karpoori Thakur, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had spoken up against dynastic politics, a comment widely seen as aimed at the RJD, and few days later he walked out of the INDIA bloc to join hands with the NDA.

At the Karpoori Gram in Samastipur, preparations are in final stages for the main function to be graced by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Karpoori Thakur’s son and union minister of state for agriculture Ramnath Thakur and a host of ministers and leaders from the Centre and the State.

“This is the first anniversary celebration after the award of Bharat Ratna to the iconic leader and this is 101st. So, it is big. He lived in a hut and a hut has also been built in the campus of the college named after him. The Ambassador car he used has also been kept here. Nitish Kumar comes to college every year to pay tribute. It is the simplicity of Karpooriji and his work for subalterns that still keeps him relevant,” said a local JD-U leader.

However, it is not just the NDA. There are separate anniversary functions organised by the RJD, Jan Suraj Party, Rashtriya Lok Morcha and others to stake claim to the Karpoori legacy with an eye on the game changing EBC factor in Bihar elections.

“It is a fact that Karpooriji’s relevance has only grown with time due to the changing contours of state politics. What Karpooriji did for the subalterns without adding a brick to his house needs to be emulated, but the race is to use his name to achieve political ends. Every political party wants to own the rich Karpoori legacy for sheer votes and that is certainly not what Karpooriji stood for. He did not have the numbers of his own caste, but he commanded respect of all, especially poor,” said former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies DM Diwakar.

Born on January 24, 1924 in an impoverished family, Karpoori Thakur became the chief minister of Bihar twice, but could not complete his term even once. He paved the way for reservation to backward classes and did not hesitate to sacrifice his government for that. It was, however, his connect with the people and ability to feel their pulse that he never lost an election in over three decades of his political career starting with 1952, when he first got elected to Bihar assembly.

He was the first non-Congress chief minister of Bihar. It was the Karpoori formula of creating two groups of backward classes to help the most marginalised that Nitish Kumar used to create other backward classes and extremely backward classes and established himself as the leader of EBCs to counter Lalu Prasad Yadav, who once held sway over backward classes. Later, Nitish used the same idea to create Dalits and Mahadalits to counter Ram Vilas Paswan’s influence, to a fair degree of success.

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