Son of a marginal farmer from the Nai (barber) community, Karpoori Thakur came a long way to serve as Bihar’s chief minister twice in the 1970s. He would come to be known as Jannayak or people’s hero thanks to his work, especially for the deprived sections of society. Thakur, who was imprisoned during the Quit India Movement against the British colonialists, never lost any election after winning his first time in 1952 due to his popularity on the back of his simple living and championing of social justice.
Thakur, whose community constituted just 1.6% of the population in the 1970s, was the first to mobilise the backward castes when there was limited political space for them in state politics. He paved the way for 26% reservation for them in the government services in Bihar in November 1978. A socialist, he was the first to feel the need to separately classify the most deprived among the backward classes for their upliftment.
Thakur was the first to push for the empowerment of the backward classes, which ultimately set the tone for the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations for reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the 1990s.
The implementation coalesced OBCs into a potent electoral bloc and sparked the rise of regional parties, including Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which changed the face of heartland politics.
Both RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and chief minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U) have cashed in on the Karpoori legacy to ensure that the reins did not slip out of the hands of backward classes since the 1990s.
{{/usCountry}}Both RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and chief minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U) have cashed in on the Karpoori legacy to ensure that the reins did not slip out of the hands of backward classes since the 1990s.
{{/usCountry}}They have sought to consolidate their position with the release of the results of the caste survey on Monday following the completion of an exercise that can potentially upend heartland politics and propel caste into the core of the discourse ahead of the 2024 national polls.
The exercise was expected to trigger another political churn that many called the second Mandal moment. The opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, which includes RJD and JD(U), has pushed for a nationwide caste census to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party’s mobilisation of less-dominant backward and Dalit groups into a broader Hindu umbrella. The BJP has included marginalised caste leaders into its ranks, countering an earlier perception that the party was primarily focused on its traditional vote base, upper castes.
Bihar’s ruling alliance was expected to propose an increase in the quota for backward castes in jobs and educational institutions proportionate to their population as per findings in the survey. The landmark survey enumerated in a physical government headcount all castes for the first time since Independence and showed backward communities comprise nearly two-thirds of Bihar’s population. India’s decennial census only counts the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).
The survey showed that extremely backward communities (ECB) comprising 112 castes constituted 36.01% of the population, and backward castes (30 communities) made up another 27.12%. Together, other OBC, the umbrella group consisting of backward castes and EBCs in the state, is 63.13%. SC form 19.65% and ST 1.68%.
Kumar used the formula of Thakur, who was also Bihar’s first non-Congress chief minister, to classify backward classes into two categories to establish himself as the leader of EBCs to counter friend-turned-foe-turned-ally Lalu Prasad Yadav. He used the same idea to create Mahadalits to counter former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s influence.
Mungeri Lal Commission, which submitted its report when Thakur was the chief minister in 1977, recommended that backward classes be reclassified as extremely backward classes (including weaker sections of Muslims) and backward classes. The report was implemented in 1978.
Sri Krishna Sinha, Bihar’s first chief minister, also created two categories of backward castes for scholarships.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who served as Thakur’s principal secretary, said he had an immense in the rise of backward politics. He added Thakur tried his bit for their welfare beyond politics in realistic terms whenever he got an opportunity to be in power. “However, if people get carried away that reservation alone can lead to political victories, they may be in for a jolt, as the history suggests. Thakur did a lot for the backward classes and even those among them who he felt left out and did not get the reservation and benefits of welfare schemes. The dominant backward castes benefited immensely. He put the extremely backward classes in a separate category so that the benefits could reach them in the right measure.”
Sinha added Thakur soon lost power. “The same thing happened with late former Prime Minister VP Singh, who lost soon after the implementation of the Mandal Commission report.”
Sinha said the caste survey suggests there are only 15% of people in the general category. “I think the time has come to rethink... reserve 15% seats for the general category and leave all the rest for others. After all, with so many castes emerging, it will be difficult to fulfil the aspirations of all. Reservation should not viewed as a sure-shot formula to win elections. After all, with government jobs shrinking, it cannot deliver what people expect. It will require increasing the job opportunities in the government sector.”
Former AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies director DM Diwakar said upper castes mostly dominated the state politics prior to Thakur. He added Thakur was courageous and used tact to achieve what was viewed as improbable those days to emerge as a unanimous choice of the backward castes following the Mungeri Lal Commission report, which was a prelude to the Mandal Commission.
“The Mungeri Lal Commission report identified 127 castes. ...the government in 1978 implemented the quota for backward classes in the government jobs. However, soon after his government fell. To make sure that the educationally backward did not suffer and pursued higher education, he removed English as a compulsory subject at the matriculation level as the education minister long before that. ...Karpoori was a man who worked for the backward classes, especially those who were at the bottom of the pyramid even among the backward.”
He added Thakur was a committed socialist and played a decisive role in Bihar politics for over four decades. “The politics of Bihar since 1990 is also an offshoot of Karpoori legacy.”
He said the impact of the caste survey would be discernible in the months to come as it has provided the actual numerical strength of caste groups, which could create a new set of leaders and challenges for the current leadership. “A lot more of the data is yet to come. What has come is something that everyone knew. Even during the time of Karpoori, it was known that the backward castes constituted over 60% of the population.”