Patna, May 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal today to the people of Bihar to rise above caste is mired in irony as it his very own party that has been busy getting its "caste equations" right for the Assembly polls.
Modi made this appeal at a function in New Delhi to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of noted Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. A native of Bihar, Dinkar was an iconic poet whose works were marked by patriotic fervour. However, the poet has in recent years been used by political parties to woo a section of upper castes in Bihar. Icons in Bihar have been divided along caste lines by political parties and Modi's own outfit is no exception.
The Bihar BJP has been invoking names of historical and political figures by identifying them with certain castes. Last week, BJP officials gathered under the umbrella of the Rashtravadi Kushwaha Parisad to celebrate the 2320th birth anniversary of Emperor Asoka and projecting the great Mauryan monarch as a member of the Kushwaha community, the second largest OBC group in the state, which the party is trying to win over in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
The BJP's effort to portray Asoka as a Kushwaha has drawn flak from historians such as Romila Thapar.
Questioning the authenticity of the birth date and caste of the emperor, Thapar, talking to The Telegraph from New Delhi, said: "There is no historical evidence of the birth date of Emperor Asoka, also there is no historical evidence that Chandragupta and Asoka were Kushwahas."
Thapar, a professor emeritus at JNU who has authored a book based on Asokan edicts, said: "According to the Buddhist scriptures, Chandragupta and Asoka were Kshatriyas."
Not only the Mauryan monarchs, the BJP has in the past organised several functions invoking various caste groups by celebrating the birth anniversaries of historical and political personalities. The party, for instance, organised the birth anniversary celebrations of Maharana Pratap in Patna to woo upper caste Rajputs. BJP president Amit Shah kicked off his election campaign in the state holding a rally in Patna in memory of socialist icon Karpoori Thakur. The rally was organised with an eye on the extremely backward castes, which comprise more than 50 castes and accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the state's population.
Tomorrow, the BJP will hold a Goswami Sammelan where senior party leaders will participate.
BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav, however, denied that the party was behaving like another caste-driven outfit. "Modiji has been advocating development politics. By organising the birth anniversary of Emperor Asoka, we have stressed on his governance and not his caste."
Patna University sociology teacher Randhir Kumar Singh said caste politics gets prominence during elections. "Caste politics in the state got pace after 1967. Many politicians projecting themselves as caste leaders come up and even win elections in an area where the caste population works in their favour."
