New Delhi
To strengthen its reach among the Scheduled Caste (SC) voters of Bihar, Chief minister Nitish Kumar asked the party leaders to reach out to the community through what has been called “Bheem Samvad”.
Under the program, which started on 4 March, four separate teams, led by four senior leaders of the party, those are touring the entire state in a phased manner and conducting rallies, public events and going to the houses of dalit voters to apprise them of the teaching of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar to increase their political awareness and apprise them of their rights.
Approximately 16 percent of the total population of the state are classified as those belonging to the SC community.
The said event will culminate on 14 April, the birthdate of Ambedkar, among the most popular dalit leaders who was also the law minister of India. As per JDU leaders, on this day, a Bheem Choupal-Samvad (social discussion and gathering) will be organized in all the approximately 27500 wards in the state.
Senior JDU leader and cabinet minister, Dr.Ashok Choudhary, who has been given the responsibility of districts adjoining capital Patna, including Nalanda, which is the home district of Nitish Kumar, said that the party’s objective behind conducting this program was to politically empower the dalit voters of the state so that their participation in the democracy in the state increase and get strong.
“We want to bring all the members of the marginalised section into the mainstream and politically empower them. Unless we have done that, we will not consider ourselves as successful in our political and social endeavours. The CM wants the voice, aspirations of every dalit to be heard and acted upon. For us this is not a political event but an effort to do whatever we can to make the dalit voice stronger,” Choudhary, who himself comes from the dalit community, told the Daily Guardian.
Choudhary, who did intercaste marriage with his wife Neeta, at the time when it was considered to be an impossible task, is among the leaders who is seen as a politician who has shun ‘narrow thinking’. Last year, his daughter Shambhavi got married to Sayan, who is the son of former IPS officer Kishore Kunal. Kunal, who among other things, is known for appointing a dalit as the priest in the Mahavir temple, Patna in June 1993 when he was the secretary of the temple trust. Kunal belongs to the forward Bhumihar caste.
Political observers said that Nitish was likely to give a bigger role to Choudhary in the coming days.
“Apart from being an efficient administrator, he also belongs to the SC segment that is politically very significant in Bihar. It is noteworthy to recall that from 2205 till now, the financial budget for the SC/ST budget has increased from Rs 40 crore to Rs 1730 crore, which is a huge jump and an indication of how serious Kumar and the JDU is about the Dalits. Choudhary, who is considered to be close to Kumar, is among the senior most dalit ministers in the state. So his future elevation should not come as a surprise,” a Patna based political observer who has followed the JDU since its inception, said.
The fact that Choudhary was asked to campaign in the districts that touch Patna including Kumar’s home district of Nalanda is also being seen as an indication of the things to come. Choudhary has in the past served as the working president of state JDU.
With the national president Lalan Singh belonging to the Bhumihar caste, the probable elevation of Choudhary, by giving him a larger and more prominent role, is likely to bring electoral benefits for Nitish Kumar in the next year Lok Sabha polls.