Patna, March 22: Months before the Assembly election, chief minister Nitish Kumar had told The Telegraph that his government has given a new Bihari identity that has moved beyond old caste and social equations.

Months later, the state is celebrating this new-found Bihari identity as Bihar Divas.

The young generation, which is the most dominant force in any democracy, feels the same and are proud of being called Bihari, a concept earlier associated with deep-rooted caste-based politics.

When The Telegraph visited a room of Minto Hostel of Patna College, four borders belonging to different castes were proud to claim their Bihari identity. Of the four, one was an upper caste Brahmin, another a backward caste Kurmi, while the other two Dalits. The group members seated on the same bed showed that they were really not concerned about the caste divide.

University hostels were one of the places during the Mandal era where caste politics was deep rooted and even rooms were allotted depending on caste. Krishnanand Pratihasi, a BCA student of Patna College and boarder of Minto Hostel, says: “Leaders from different parties have always tried to grab power riding piggyback on students and dividing them on caste lines, but in recent times, the trend has lost strength as development has overshadowed caste and a move has been taken to create a sense of Bihari identity.”

Manish Kumar, a student of NIT Patna, said Bihar has lagged behind other states as leaders have never been interested in development and rather than utilising their energy for development they have used it for dividing people on caste lines. Manish said: “It is welcome move that the old order is breaking down. Now it is not about caste it is about being Bihari, especially with women and young people.” The sense of getting a Bihari identity cannot be measured with a scale but it is a feeling which has become palpable.

Echoing Manish’s views, another techie, Peetak Mitra of Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Patna, said: “I am Bengali, but born and brought up in Mumbai and Nasik and studying in Bihar. It is a welcome move that the people of state are proud to be called Bihari rather than being called up by their surnames.”

Not only people in Bihar are welcoming the paradigm shift in Bihar politics from caste factor to development factor but people of other states are welcoming it too. Mitra said: “There was a time when people in Maharashtra used to have a different (bad and inferior) feelings for people of Bihar but it has changed, as now even Maharashtrians have a sense of respect for people of Bihar.”

The two techies also opined that apart creating a sense of Bihari identity, focus should be given to development to education as the core sector. Mitra said: “No other city in the country has three premier engineering colleges — NIT, BIT and IIT — at the same place, but educational infrastructure should be focused upon so that students of Bihar who go to other states for studies get an opportunity to study here itself.”

However, few students feel that creating the Bihari identity in place of caste identity is just a myth, as a particular caste is being promoted.

Jayprakash Kumar a postgraduate student of Patna University said: “Bihari identity is just a hype. Even today caste is given preference in appointment and promotions and a particular caste is being made victim at the cost of another.”