(From left) BJP state chief Mangal Pandey, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav in Patna on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

The BJP is in a hurry to create a vote bank of its own as its alliance with the JD(U) inches closer to its use-by date.

While Nitish Kumar has carved out a secure vote bank for the JD(U) in the form of Mahadalits — a group of 20 sects of dalits — the BJP is making a major bid to cash in on the lone dalit section kept out of the Mahadalit pie, the Dusadhs (Paswans), who have till now backed LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan.

On Friday, the BJP marked the birth anniversary of Baba Chauharmal, a legendary Dalit icon of the Paswans who fought against injustices meted out to downtrodden classes. Addressing a gathering of Paswans, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi sought to assure them that the party would not harm their interests as long as it was a force in Bihar.

Modi’s remark is seen as an attempt to consolidate the Dusadh (Paswan) community in their fold, a community that is disenchanted with Nitish Kumar for having kept them out of the favoured Mahadalit club. The chief minister had set up the Mahadalit Commission in 2007 to identify castes among Scheduled Castes that missed the development bus.

The Mahadalit commission has 20 sections of dalits but not the Paswans, the reason for their disenchantment with the JD(U).

Speaking at the Ravindra Bhavan function, Modi set to assure the Paswans that they are included in over 90 per cent of welfare schemes meant for Dalits. “The Paswan community should not feel insecure about being left out of Mahadalits, as 90 per cent of schemes meant for Dalits cover Paswans too,” he said.

Listing out the government’s various welfare schemes, Modi said scholarship for school children belonging to Dalits, cycle scheme and other cover Paswans.

The Dalits, including Paswans, comprise 16 per cent of Bihar’s population and keeping in mind their numerical strength, every political party has tried to woo them. Though Friday’s function was held to celebrate Baba Chauharmal’s birth anniversary, BJP leaders used the platform to list out the work carried out by the BJP for Dalit communities. State BJP president Mangal Pandey said: “The BJP has always given high representation to Dalits, including Paswans. In the last assembly elections, of the 102 seats it contested in, 19 tickets were given to Dalits and they won in 18 seats. Of the 18 seats won by Dalits, nine seats are represented by Paswans.”

The state chief also said that there were 12 cabinet ministers from among Dalits — the highest since Independence — when A. B. Vajpayee was PM. Pandey pointed out that party chief Rajnath Singh had recently made Sanjay Paswan president of BJP’s SC Morcha. Sanjay Paswan attacked LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, saying the LJP is only centered around Parivar (family), shringar (fashion) and vyapar (business).”