Patna20 minutes agoAuthor: Pranay Priyamvad
The High Court’s decision regarding the municipal elections and the subsequent direction of the Election Department has come at a time when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is trying to unite the anti-BJP parties. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad is also standing with him. Municipal elections are not to be fought on party basis. Municipal elections have been postponed on the question of caste. That is, the story of caste has started again and the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 are in front.
Lalu Prasad is a leader of Mandal politics. That period was in 1990, when the then Prime Minister VP Singh announced the implementation of the Mandal Commission’s recommendation in the Parliament. The period of Mandal politics was a big period of politics for leaders like Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati. Reservation was a big victory for Lalu Prasad’s politics. There was a protest against giving 27 percent reservation to the backwards across the country. The students of the universities started agitating on the road. There was a lot of ruckus in Bihar too. Leaders like Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav showed strength in favor of Mandal. In Bihar, caste upsurge is visible on the pretext of civic polls.
RJD, JDU or BJP will take advantage of this, it will tell the 2024 assembly and 2025 Lok Sabha elections. Apart from Hindu politics, BJP has also started understanding caste politics a lot. Under this strategy, the BJP has given preference to leaders like Nityanand Rai or Sanjay Jaiswal for the post of Bihar state president in recent years. The BJP had taken care of this even while making two deputy chief ministers in the Nitish government. In the assembly elections, Mukesh Sahni’s party VIP was given tehsil by the BJP only under the strategy of backward politics. Further politics and strategy changed.
BJP and JDU set program against each other
How the politics of reservation will intensify is now visible. BJP and JDU have also made their own program. BJP OBC Morcha’s National General Secretary and State Spokesperson Nikhil Anand said that whose responsibility was to set up the commission? Why did you start the election process without any preparation? Why did the third go to the court without preparation and facts?
Fourth, why did you ignore the advice and suggestion of the Supreme Court on this issue? Nikhil Anand said that on October 6, Bihar BJP will stage a sit-in at all the district headquarters and will also burn the effigy of Nitish Kumar. JDU national president Lalan Singh has said that the backward class knows that our biggest benefactor is Nitish Kumar. Said that in every district headquarters, the anti-reservation program of Bihar JDU BJP would be open.
parties should exercise restraint
Senior journalist Praveen Bagi says that the Bihar government had not prepared for the municipal elections properly. Now the allegations and counter-allegations have started on the question of caste. The court should also not have given its decision after notification of the election. It is dangerous for democracy. The court does not interfere after the notification of the Lok Sabha elections. Local body elections need to be made as powerful as Lok Sabha elections and Vidhan Sabha elections.
It is feared that caste politics will affect the politics of Lok Sabha elections in Bihar. It is also possible that ethnic animosity may increase. It can also turn into caste violence. Therefore the government and the parties should act with restraint.
The question of reservation will remain acrimonious in the 2024 elections- Ravi Upadhyay, senior journalist
Senior journalist Ravi Upadhyay says that the ban on civic elections will have an impact on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and then the Legislative Assembly elections. Now the issue of reservation in elections will be more intense. The order of the Supreme Court was ignored. The State Election Commission had to listen to the court’s rebuke. How it was done without rules is the question.
Now backward and backward politics has intensified. Caste census is separate and municipal elections are separate. The two should not be seen together. Now Nitish Kumar’s party will count how many have been included in the backward castes in Bihar, while Mukesh Sahni’s party has been demanding reservation for the Mallahs.
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