Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to the ancestral village of socialist icon Karpoori Thakur.
Ramesh posted three questions about Modi visiting the village of Thakur, who championed social justice, particularly for the marginalised, through reservations.
“Today the Prime Minister is going to the ancestral village of Jannayak Karpoori Thakur ji. Here are our three straight questions to him,” he wrote.
“Is it not an acknowledged fact that the Jan Sangh - from which the BJP emerged - brought down Karpoori Thakurji's Govt in Bihar in April 1979 when the-then CM introduced reservations for OBCs? Is it not a fact that Karpoori Thakur ji was subjected to the vilest abuse by RSS and Jan Sangh leaders then?” the Congress leader asked.
“Is it not a fact that on April 28, 2024 he himself called those demanding a caste census as 'urban naxals' and that both in Parliament (20th July 2021) as well as in the Supreme Court (21st September 2021) his Govt. categorically rejected a caste census?
“Is it not a fact that he and his trouble-engine sarkar in the state did nothing to provide protection to Bihar's 65% reservation law for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs, and EBCs under the Constitution of India - a protection that the Congress Govt had provided to a similar law in Tamil Nadu in Sept 1994?”
The choice of Karpoori Gram on Modi’s itinerary is being seen as the NDA’s effort to woo the Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) that Karpoori Thakur came from.
Modi’s Bihar visit marks the launch of the BJP-led NDA's campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections. Modi will pay tributes to Thakur, a two-time chief minister revered as a champion of backward classes.
Thakur, who passed away in 1988, is remembered for his pioneering push for reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the late 1970s.
He was conferred the nation's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, last year and Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj has fielded Thakur’s granddaughter as its candidate in these elections.
The Bharat Ratna came 35 years after his death and ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Thakur died on February 17, 1988.
After assuming power in 2005, chief minister Nitish Kumar used the “Karpoori formula” to classify Backward Classes into two categories to establish himself as the leader of the EBCs to counter Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The ‘Karpoori Thakur Formula' provided 26 per cent reservation, of which OBCs got a 12 percent share, the economically backward classes among the OBCs got 8 per cent, women got 3 per cent, and the poor from the "upper castes" got 3 per cent.
Modi will make six visits to the poll-bound state between October 24 and November 7 for campaigning.
The assembly elections will be held in two phases, with 121 seats going to polls on November 6 and voting scheduled in the remaining 122 constituencies on November 11. The results will be announced on November 14.
Union home minister Amit Shah is also expected to address around 25 public rallies. Almost the same number of rallies will be done by defence minister Rajnath Singh, Union minister Nitin Gadkari and other top leaders.
The BJP has identified 40 star campaigners for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, signalling its intent to go all out in the high stakes political contest.
Besides Modi and Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav and Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta are also included in the star campaigners list for the Bihar polls.
The NDA is being challenged by the opposition’s Mahathbandhan of the Grand Alliance. Among other parties, the RJD is contesting 143 of the 243 seats of Bihar. Congress is contesting 61 seats, CPI ML is contesting 20, and Mukesh Sahani's VIP is contesting 15 seats in the INDIA bloc.