Patna: While birth anniversaries of other politicians of the past is associated with the ritual of garlanding portraits and a few devotional songs being sung, the birth anniversary of former chief minister Karpoori Thakur is celebrated with gusto.
Political parties are vying with each other to celebrate the birth anniversary of the iconic Karpoori Thakur.
The JDU, the BJP and the RJD are all holding shows, which their top leaders will attend. Thakur, an icon symbolising Extremely Backward Classes votes cannot be underplayed when polls are near.
The JDU is celebrating the event on a grand scale at SK Memorial Hall with chief minister Nitish Kumar presiding over the event on January 23.
The RJD and the LJP will observe the event in their respective offices. Former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav will be the chief guest at the RJD event. Minister and brother of Ram Vilas Paswan Pashupati Kumar Paras will be the chief guest in the LJP event, which is being used as an oath-taking ceremony. The BJP will observe the day in its office in the presence of all its senior leaders - deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, ministers Nand Kishore Yadav, Mangal Pandey and Pramod Kumar.
During his lifetime, Karpoori Thakur, say old-timers, never got the reverence he gets now. There were sharp differences arising out of issues like the quota system he introduced in government jobs. A senior leader now used to refer to Karpoori as kapti (devious) in private conversation.
"The fact that the late chief minister hailed from a caste which has a token presence in most areas of Bihar, made members of dominant castes that demand a right that should be theirs. It was only owing to Karpoori's unscratched track record that most were unable to oppose him openly," recalled an old socialist leader.
However, Karpoori, after his death became a symbol of the EBCs - a group composing of over 100 castes which separately do not influence results but together constitute around 29 per cent of the voters. The EBC votes were first conceived as a votebank in 2005 polls. It was the strong support of EBCs for the NDA which saw Nitish Kumar sail through. Since then the block has remained in the NDA split between the JDU and the BJP when the two separated.
If the RJD is to make a bid for power, it has to make inroads in this votebank. For that, NDA it is this vote bank which they think can rule out any resurgence of Lalu and the RJD. This is why Karpoori Thakur has become more important after his death than when he was alive.
