Patna: The clamour for the face of the Mandal commission, late Bihar chief minister B.P. Mandal, is going to get louder in the run-up to the general elections. There is now a demand for a Bharat Ratna for him.
"It was because of B.P. Mandal that the downtrodden are getting reservation in government jobs," former MP Ranjan Prasad Yadav said. "There are others who are taking credit. But the truth remains that it was B.P. Mandal's report on reservation for backward classes in government jobs and educational institutes that former prime minister V.P. Singh accepted and implemented. B P Mandal is a natural claimant for the country's highest award."
The former MP was taking digs at the man who reaped the maximum benefits from the Mandal commission - RJD chief Lalu Prasad. On August 27, on the birth anniversary of B.P. Mandal, political parties had tried to outdo each other in "remembering" a leader who has largely remained unsung for years. The BJP, RJD, JDU, RLSP and Ranjan Prasad Yadav's Yadav Jagran Manch all held separate functions to mark the day. Union minister Upendra Kushwaha's comment - that the milk of Yadavs and rice of Kushwahas would make the perfect kheer - had emerged at one of these meetings.
Bihar has a substantial backward class population, estimated at around 52 per cent. Implementation of the Mandal Commission resulted in consolidation of all backward classes and led to Lalu Prasad sweeping the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
However, over the years, the backward classes got fragmented. First a major chunk of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), which constitute 29 per cent of the population, formed a block, which switched over to the NDA.
Among the Other Backward Castes (OBCs), Yadavs remained with Lalu while sections like the Kushwahas, Kurmis and Baniyas opted for the NDA.
Fragmentation of the backward classes has resulted in weakening of Lalu Prasad politically while OBC leaders like Nitish Kumar rely on upper castes for political advantage. In 2015, when Lalu and Nitish joined hands, there was an effort for a triveni sangam (meeting point of three streams) - Yadavs, Koeris and Kurmis - even as Lalu hammered the point that the BJP was out to finish off quota. The Grand Alliance swept the polls. But the BJP and its allies managed to get substantial votes from the backward castes, signifying that the magic of the early 1990s cannot be fully repeated but can still deliver electoral victories.
The slogan given on August 27 by one of the organisers was "Hum Mandal ke log (We the people of Mandal)".
"Mandal will become relevant in the elections of 2019. But the battle for its legacy will be fought between leaders who got maximum benefits and political mileage in the 1990s," said a senior JDU leader. Once on the same boat, the mud slinging against each other is going to get more intense - all in the name of B P Mandal and the Commission report he submitted to the Union government.