Bihar: Efforts to Woo Kushwahas Mount as Next Year’s Assembly Polls Near

Patna: After not performing well as expected in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is trying to make inroads into social groups, mainly Kushwahas (a powerful agrarian caste among Other Backward Classes or OBCs), traditionally considered supporters of the ruling Janata Dal- United and to some extent the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) as well.

With the 2025 Bihar Assembly polls not far away, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, in an astute move on June 21, appointed Abhay Kushwaha, a newly elected MP from Aurangabad seat, belonging to Kushwaha caste, as the parliamentary party leader of RJD. This has surprised many but his (Abhay Kushwaha) promotion seems to be a big political move. It is a different matter whether it will succeed in next year’s Assembly polls or not.

Lalu Prasad, a seasoned politician, has played the Kushwaha card in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls and tasted some success, too. Taking this into consideration, RJD has given much importance to Abhay Kushwaha to send a message to the community, locally known as Koeri, that they matter for the party along with its traditional core support base of Muslim-Yadav. The RJD supremo has preferred Abhay Kushwaha over his own daughter Misa Bharti, elected from Patliputra seat, to lead the party in Parliament.

Kushwaha is the largest social group after Lalu Prasad’s caste (Yadav) in Bihar, a state known for caste-ridden politics. As per the Bihar caste survey report released last year, Kushwahas make for 4.27% of the total population of the state, second to 14.26 % Yadavs.

The RJD won four of the 23 seats it contested this time. Despite an aggressive campaign led by young Tejashwi Yadav, this was much below expectations among the party’s core --Muslims (who constitute 17.7 %) and Yadavs. The reality is that RJD has improved its performance from zero seats in last elections (2019) to four in 2024. The party also gained vote share at 22.14% of the total votes polled, the highest for any olitical party in the state. This was a 6.46% rise in vote share from 15.68% in last elections. The ruling National Democratic Alliance or NDA’s vote share (BJP and JD-U) decreased and their seats also came down to 30 from 39 out of 40 seats on the last polls.

The RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (Congress and Left parties), a part of opposition INDIA block, won nine seats (RJD 4, Congress 3, CPI (ML) 2) and one seat was won by an independent close to Congress. Last time, only one seat was won by Congress.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, Lalu Prasad has experimented a formula to gain support among Kushwahas when the Mahagathbandhan fielded seven candidates belonging to the caste, including three by RJD alone. The NDA fielded four candidates belonging to the community, but none by BJP, which reportedly made them unhappy.

The RJD supremo’s strategy managed to garner a chunk of Kushwaha’s votes for the  Mahagathbandhan candidates belonging to this caste along with RJD’s traditional well tested Muslim –Yadav support base along with Dalits. It worked in Aurangabad, where RJD candidate Abhay Kushwaha defeated sitting BJP MP Sushil Kumar Singh, a Rajput. This was first time since 1952 that a non-Rajput won the seat, known as stronghold of Rajputs in the state.

Similarly RJD’s ally CPI (ML) candidate Rajaram Singh, a Kushwaha, won the Karakat seat. He defeated Upendra Kushwaha, former Union minister and chief of Rashtriya Lok Morcha, an ally of NDA. Ironically Upendra Kushwaha, widely projected as leader of the Kushwahas by NDA, was pushed to third place, as Bhojpuri singer and film star Pawan Singh, who contested as an independent, ended as a runner-up.

More than three weeks after his defeat, Upendra Kushwaha, in a change of heart, for the first time publicly praised Lalu Prasad for championing social justice. As of now he appears to be a dejected man in the NDA. This assumes significance at a time when RJD is all out to woo his community. There are reports that RJD has hinted that its doors are open for him and has also sent feelers to Upendra Kushwaha.

On the other hand, the ruling JD-U of Chief minister Nitish Kumar is not far behind in ensuring that his core support among Kushwahas remains intact. The party has reportedly named a senior party leader, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, as the candidate for the upcoming bypoll to the Bihar Legislative Council .

Going by the trend, Kushwaha leaders have become most sought after by all dispensations in the state.

According to political watchers here, even small support from the Kushwahas helped the Mahagathbandhan win other neighbouring seats like Arrah, Patliputra, Buxar and Jehanabad on both sides of river Sone in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

But JD-U still remains a favourite for the Kushwahas along with Kurmis, another agrarian OBC, locally known as Luv-Kush. Of JD-U’s 12 newly elected MPs, two are Kushwahsa and one is from the Kurmi caste.

According to RJD leaders here, the party’s weakest point is its failure to broaden support among 113 small castes under the Extreme Backward Classes (EBCs) that cost the party several seats in flood-prone northern Bihar. These castes together constitute 36.01% of population and a major chunk of them are loyal to JD-U and BJP.

Similarly, on a few seats, the RJD’s core support base of Muslim-Yadav was divided, which spoiled the party and allies victory chances. Lalu Prasad’s second daughter Rohini Acharya was defeated in Saran seat by only 13,000 votes because a chunk of Muslim–Yadav votes went to two Independent candidates belonging to this equation. RJD’s Shahnawaz Alam was defeated in Araria seat by only 20,000 votes as four independent Muslim candidates got more than 40,000 votes.

Interestingly, BJP state president Samrat Choudhary, a Kushwaha, failed to ensure overwhelming votes for his party and allies despite his tall talk. The Kushwahas, during election campaign, expressed anger over BJP’s decision not to field a single candidate from the community.

Meanwhile, now there are reports that Kushwahas are also unhappy that no one from their caste got a berth in the new NDA government at the Centre.