Patna, Feb. 5: The Janata Dal (United) has reserved 60 per cent of its organisational positions from the block to state level for the Dalits, extremely backward castes (EBCs), women and minorities in what is being seen as a “social re-engineering” by Nitish Kumar to consolidate his hold on the grassroots level in the backdrop of the buzz over the NDA’s prime ministerial candidature.
“We are strictly adhering to the 60:40 formula in electing our office-bearers at all layers of the party — panchayat, block, district and state level — to ensure the accommodation of all sections of society in our party,” state party chief Basishtha Narayan Singh told The Telegraph. “It is a part of our party’s cherished goal to make ourselves all-inclusive.”
Singh said that even the JD(U)’s 15-member executive committee at the panchayat level will have its office-bearers in the 60:40 ratio (60 per cent from EBCs, Dalits, women and minorities and 40 per cent from the general members).
The sources revealed that JD(U) organisational elections in over 70 per cent of the blocks and districts based on the 60:40 formula has already been carried out. The entire electoral process is likely to end by the third or last week of February following which the state and national party presidents would be elected.
Nitish’s move to reserve 50 per cent seats for EBCs, Mahadalits and women soon after he took over the reins of the state in 2005 paid enormous dividends. The NDA’s numbers shot up from 143 in 2005 to 206 in 2010 thanks to this social engineering and the perception of good governance.
With the growing demand from Hindutva protagonists in the BJP to project Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate and talks of a split in the NDA doing the rounds, Nitish has silently resorted to the experiment with the social structure.
Nitish’s gambit, sources said, is part of his strategy to “counter” the expected loss of votes his party might suffer in case of a split with the BJP if Modi is projected as the prime ministerial candidate ahead of the elections.
“It is a novel experiment which no party has attempted so far. Moreover, it will let the major chunk of society identify with what they will feel as their own party,” said a senior JD(U) strategist on the condition of anonymity.
Senior leaders have been asked to maintain a low key on the operation, the sources added.
The JD(U) is the only party which has delayed its organisational elections. The RJD and BJP are already done with their organisational polls. “Nitishji personally evolved the 60:40 formula and worked out the mechanism to implement it through the organisational polls. It took a lot of time,” a source said.
JD(U) strategists believe that the party is already strong with the EBCs who constitute over 35 per cent of the state’s electorate. Nitish had segregated it from the larger Mandal block of the backward castes (BCs) by giving them quota in the local bodies. “The party’s new experiment will further consolidate its base with the EBCs, mahadalits and Muslims,” a party leader confided.
The experiment, the sources said, might also help the JD(U) have a bigger presence of people from the hinterlands at its Adhikar Rally at the Ramlila ground in New Delhi on March 17 to press for special category to Bihar.
