Saharsa: The poll verdict of Bihar will settle the issue of reservation in favour of the quota beneficiaries permanently, according to JD(U) President Sharad Yadav. The JD-U leader said both the issues of "social disparity and development" are important in Bihar polls, while noting that majority of people in Bihar hail from the reserved categories.
"Bihar election will protect the tool of reservation provided to deprived sections by our Constitution. I appeal to people to save the mechanism of reservation through their vote. Press the right button and protect it. Bihar election outcome will settle the issue of reservation for once and all. If people press the right button, nobody will be able to remove reservation," he said.
Muslims and Mahadalits constitute around 16% of total votes, Yadav 14 per cent, Bania, Koiri and other Extremely Backward Castes (EBC) 8% each, Mallah around 7%, the upper caste block of Brahmin-Bhumihar-Rajput-Kayasth around 16% and Kurmi 4%.
What the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on the issue of reservation had a wide impact on all beneficiaries of quota like Dalits and backwards besides the conscious upper caste voters, who believed in social justice. It is an opportunity for those who want to save reservation. They have to just cast their vote and fail those who want to remove reservation, he said.
Asked whether he is confident that the Muslim Yadav (MY) combination, which was the core strength of Lalu Prasad's RJD that ruled the state for 15 years, is intact this time for the grand alliance of JDU-RJD and Congress, he claimed that not only his "but all the poor castes and the conscious among the upper castes are together" with the grand alliance.
He also said that there is no Third Front in Bihar and the electoral fight in Bihar is a direct one. Yadav, a former MP from Madhepura, who was defeated in last Lok Sabha polls by RJD's Pappu Yadav, forcing him to take the Rajya Sabha route to enter Parliament, is dismissive of the claim of the opponent, who now heads Janadhikar Party after being expelled from RJD.
According to Pappu, no alliance in Bihar will get a majority and in that situation his support will be crucial for formation of any government. "There is no Third Front here. The electoral fight in Bihar is a direct one. This region of Saharsa-Madhepura has been the cradle of socialist movement. All the socialist forces have joined together and hence the Mahagathbandhan will win the assembly polls hands down. There is no keen contest. We will have a massive victory in this bio-polar contest," he said.
His remarks come after Pappu Yadav insisted that neither of the two alliances will be able to form a government in the state on their own and the Third Front will have a crucial role in the next government formation.
Yadav also downplays a question about the impact that the NDA could have among Dalits especially Paswan, Mahdalits especially Mushhars and Kushwaha voters after BJP's alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP, Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha- Secular and Upendrs Kushwaha's RLSP.
Dalit icon Baba Saheb B R Ambedkar's grandson and former MP Prakash Yashwant on Monday took out a candle march appealing forces in favour of reservation to back the grand alliance and attacked RSS for its alleged attempt to finish reservation.
Apparently aware of the potency of the campaign, the grand alliance has kept alive the issue even after repeated clarifications from the BJP and RSS that reservation will continue and that they have not intention to tweak it.
Two phase of elections have already happened in Bihar in which 81 constituencies have gone to polls while three more phases remain for voting in the 243-member Assembly. In the fifth phase, 10 seats each of Madhubani and Darbhanga, 7 seats each of Purnea and Katihar, 6 seats in Araria, 5 seats in Supaul and 4 seats each in Kishanganj, Madhepura and Saharsa will go to polls on November 5.
While Pappu's Janadhikar Morcha can eat into the votes of Yadavs and youths among OBCs, the Owaisi party threatens to rupture the Muslim vote base of the Mahagathbandhan. Owaisi's party has fielded candidates in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region while NCP, which walked of the Third Front of Mulayam Singh is also contesting a number of seats under the leadership of Katihar MP Tariq Anwar.
These factors could work to the advantage of the NDA. Yadav, however, is dismissive of any such possibility. The JD-U President, who is camping in Saharsa for the fifth phase of polls, when voting will be held for 57 constituencies including those of the Seemanchal region on November 5, stresses that MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is "no factor".
"It's a non-issue here. Our performance will be the best here as the impact of the coming together of social justice forces is the maximum here. Communal polarisation had not happened in Bihar even during Babri mosque demolition. Whoever tries how much hard, voters will not polarise on communal lines in Bihar. We had earlier also won in the Mandal versus Kamandal fight," he asserts.
The JD-U chief also made it clear that he never described Lalu's tenure as jungle raj. "Neither me nor Nitish Kumar ever called Lalu's tenure as jungle raj. The NDA leaders are repeatedly saying this like a parrot. The jungle raj was when the Babri mosque was demolished," he said.
Assuring people that rule of law will prevail if the grand alliance came to power, Yadav says, "There was rule of law. There will be rule of law." He also dismissed as a "figment of imagination" doubts being expressed in some circles that Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar may not be able to work together in the long run and hence the stability of a Mahagathbandhan government will always be under doubt.
Training his guns on Modi government over writers returning Sahitya AkademI awards and resigning from posts, the JD-U President said there is a "restlessness" in the country and the Bihar poll outcome will change the scenario. "Bihar is a conscious state. Literature is widely read here and authors are held in high esteem. Hence the conscious state is feeling the pangs of authors. The solution to the restlessness in the country will come from Bihar. This election will change the direction of politics at the Centre.
After winning Bihar, we will bring together all like-minded forces at Delhi to take on NDA," he said.
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