PATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Bihar Assembly election campaign on Friday from the ancestral village of socialist icon and former chief minister Karpoori Thakur near Samastipur. As the Prime Minister addressed the rally, the Congress took a dig at him, alleging that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Jan Sangh had toppled Thakur’s government in 1979 over his reservation policy.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh raised three questions for the Prime Minister, referring to the dislodging of the Janata Party government in April 1979, the Centre’s shifting stance on a caste-based census, and the lack of constitutional protection for Bihar’s recent 65% reservation law for Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, and EBCs.
“Is it not true that in April 1979, the RSS and Jan Sangh together brought down Karpoori Thakur Ji’s government because he implemented a new reservation policy? Under that policy, an act was passed in the Legislative Assembly to provide 26% reservation for OBCs,” Ramesh stated.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Modi accused the Congress of attempting to “steal” the title of Jan Nayak (mass leader) associated with Karpoori Thakur after Rahul Gandhi was described with the same epithet by his party on social media. Reiterating that line at the Bihar rally, Modi said, “RJD and Congress were involved in scams, and their leaders are out on bail. Now they are trying to appropriate the ‘Jan Nayak’ title of Karpoori Thakur.”
Ramesh also targeted the government over its stand on caste-based enumeration. He recalled that when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi supported the demand for a caste census, they were accused of having an “urban Naxal mindset.” “The same Narendra Modi who said that then is now claiming that a caste-based census will be conducted next year,” Ramesh remarked.
The Congress leader further pointed out that the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar conducted a caste survey and, based on its findings, passed an act granting 65% reservation for Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, and EBCs. The matter, however, is currently pending before the Supreme Court. “But the question remains, why did Bihar’s ‘double engine’ government not provide constitutional protection to this act by including it in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution?” Ramesh asked.