Bihar: Demand for ‘Special Category’ Status Missing in Ruling NDA’s Poll Campaign

Patna: The demand for ‘special category status’ to Bihar is missing in the ongoing election campaign of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the Lok Sabha elections. But the opposition Mahagathbandhan is repeatedly raising this demand during its campaign to cite an example of how Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to fulfil the promise he made to the people a decade ago.

With the election campaign picking up for the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is president of Janata Dal-United, a major ally of the BJP-led NDA, is totally silent on his longstanding demand for ‘special category’ status to Bihar during the campaign.

Notably, Kumar has shared the dais with Modi at one after another election meeting this month but did not raise the demand for ‘special category’ status, which is considered a must for the state’s development. It seems Kumar is deliberately not mentioning his old demand despite the fact that he was championing it till December last.

Modi, the star campaigner of BJP-led NDA, has been repeatedly blaming the15-year-rule of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi (1990 to 2005) for backwardness of Bihar and the so-called "jungle raj" and "parivarvad", but has not mentioned this demand even once in his three visits to the state the past 12 days (April 4, 7 and 16) to address election meetings ahead of first of seven-phase Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

Kumar, who is another much sought after NDA star campaigner, has also followed suit.

Interestingly, Kumar before returning to the NDA’s fold on January 28, 2024, was vocal on the demand for ‘special category’ status.

Kumar demanded ‘special category status’ during the 26th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Patna in December 2023. In November 2023, the state cabinet chaired by Kumar had passed a resolution demanding a grant of ‘special category’ status to Bihar.

"The cabinet has passed a resolution requesting Centre for grant of special category status to Bihar. The fresh demand was necessitated by the findings of the caste survey reports,” Kumar had then posted on his X handle.

The JD-U leader had then reiterated the longstanding demand and also emphasised the state’s need for enhanced assistance from the Centre.

Similarly, then Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has also emphasised the need for PM Modi to clarify the Central government’s stance. He urged a public declaration of whether the Centre was unwilling to fulfil Bihar’s demand.

"The Centre should grant special status now; Bihar Chief Minister has demanded special status for the state many times from the Centre. But PM Modi is ignoring it. If you (Modi) don’t want to give special status to Bihar, clarify it in the public domain and then we will look into it and work in our own way to develop Bihar,” Tejashwi Yadav had said.

Soroor Ahmad, a political commentator, pointed out to NewsClick that whenever Kumar's JD-U contested polls along with BJP since 2014, he never raised the demand for ‘special category’ status to Bihar. "In contrast, Kumar during the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre would day in and day out raise this demand," he said.
 

However, Tejashwi Yadav has been missing no chance to raise the demand during his election meetings. The RJD leader has made the demand a part of his campaign to put questions to Modi when he visits Bihar for campaign.

"Modi ji, what about your 10-year-old promise to grant special category status to Bihar. Why have you failed to fulfil it, like the promise of two crore jobs to youths per year", Tejashwi said at a rally on Tuesday (April 16), ahead of Modi's election meetings in Gaya and Purnea Lok Sabha constituencies.

Last week, during election meetings,Tejashwi alleged that Modi had let down the people of Bihar by not fulfilling his ‘special status’ promise in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, if voted to power.

In 2010, Kumar has also initiated a campaign advocating for ‘special category’ status. For years, the JD-U leader has vociferously raised this demand, which he said was “indispensable” for the state’s development. But, so far, Kumar has not raised the demand even once.

Incidentally, during the 2014 election campaign, it was Nitish Kumar who had raked up the issue, when his party contested alone. He also made it a major poll planks in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, when contested along with RJD.

"Now, Kumar has abandoned an issue close to him to keep Modi happy. Special status for Bihar was his party’s main poll plank for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the 2010 Assembly polls, and then the 2014 Lok Sabha and the 2015 Assembly polls" Satyanarayan Madan, a political watcher, told NewsClick.

Another political watcher pointed out that there was time when Kumar had repeatedly accused Modi of betraying the people of Bihar, as he had not fulfilled this promise.

Bihar remains a backward state. It continues to require special assistance from the Centre for its development, just as it did five years ago and earlier. But this issue is missing entirely from the campaign of ruling NDA for Lok Sabha elections, which is raising eyebrows in the state.

This ground reality of the state’s backwardness was revealed by the recent caste survey data, spotlighting the socio-economic realities within various castes. The survey reflects Bihar’s diverse population, comprising 36% EBCs (extremely backward castes), 27% OBCs (other backward classes), 19% SCs (Dalits), and 1.68% STs (adivasis).

The findings underscore a distressing fact: many families, mainly Dalits, adivasis, OBCs and EBCs, are grappling with extreme poverty, with monthly incomes as low as Rs 6,000.

The survey reveals high poverty rates among different communities. For instance, 42.93% of SC, 42.70% of ST, 33.16% of OBC, and 33.58% of EBC families are identified as ‘poor’. Among SCs, the Musahar community suffers the most, with 54% families living in poverty.