PATNA, Feb 17 (UNI): As the grand electoral battle, Bihar Assembly Election 2005, enters its third and final stage on a relatively violence-free note, political parties taking part in this royal tug of war are busy drafting strategies for the grand finale, incorporating even 'caste' as one of their poll planks.
The first phase of elections was fought on the issue of law and order and second on the much-cherished people's aspiration of development, while the third phase, in all probability, is likely to witness the political players vying against each other flashing the fancied caste card.
97 of the 243 assembly seats which go to polling in the third phase on February 23 are strongholds of the upper caste and the politically vibrant backward Yadavs and Kurmis.
This got projected even in the selection of candidates and the style of aggressive campaigning by the political parties.
If the RJD is all out to reinvigorate its Yadav constituency, the Janata Dal (U) having a strong Kui base is concentrating in Nalanda areas while the BJP is trying to regain the support of the upper caste voters who want to get rid of the Lalu regime.
Not lagging behind is the LJP which has fielded upper caste heavyweights.
With the upper caste voters, who traditionally rallied behind the Congress and the BJP, showing indications of a changing electoral pattern, preference of the individual candidates on caste lines rather than party affiliation would play a decisive role in deciding the fate of the contestants.
The LJP, which talks about the 'Muslim-Dalit' (MD) to meet the 'Muslim-Yadav (MY) combination of the ruling RJD in the first two phases of the polls in the state, has strategically fielded its 'Bahubalis' (heavyweights) and most of them belong to the upper castes.
Undeterred by the negative impression these heavyweights like Munna Shukla (Lalganj), Rama Singh (Mahnar), Rajan Tiwary (Govindganj), Manoranjan Singh alias Dhumal Singh (Baniapur) and Sanjay Singh (Paliganj), carry across the state, LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan embraced these siting MLAs, who had last time won as independents, as his party leaders and also gave them party tickets, realising that these upper caste 'bahubalis' in course of time have emerged as strong leaders as their castemen in absence of an alternative face had rallied behind them to counter the forces of social justice unleashed by Lalu Prasad in the past 15 years.
"Do you accept us to place a lamb before RJD's untamed tigers?" was Paswan's reply to the queries on his party's decision to field a band of heavyweights facing serious criminal charges.
Even Paswan's political rivals admit that the heavyweigths from the upper caste would help the LJP drive into the BJP's traditional poll bastion.
Even a senior BJP leader, preferring anonymity, said, "It's not terror alone due to which these heavyweights wrest the seats.
We are all to be blamed as in our stride to woo weaker sections, we have taken for granted the support of this crucial votebank." "The rural poor upper caste look upon these heavyweigts as their caste heroes who could help protect their social domain in Bihar's social stratification of castes," says the saffron leader, however, describing it as "a dangerous trend, a threat to democracy." The RJD, however, sees no threat from these heavyweights.
Its senior leader and former Minister Bhola Singh says "only feudal forces and criminals have seen them as their heroes as masses despise them and hate them." "I have asked my supporters time and again to dwarf all attempts to criminalise politics," says Singh, adding, "My party has never distinguished the poor on caste lines." "We cannot allow democracy to be run by the hooligans, and people projected by leaders like Paswan," he addds.
A senior Congress leader said, "These heavyweights are in demand as no political party has given them their due share of seats nor seen them more than a mere votebank." He also admitted that RJD president Lalu Prasad's attitude towards the the upper caste in general had also been a major factor behind their resentment which in course of time turned into social insecurity forcing them to look out for militant leaders.
However, according to political analysts, the urban upper caste has kept itself away from this changing social pattern and remains averse to criminals being brought into politics.
"One cannot weed out evil with the help of a devil," was the strong feeling aired by a cross-section of the upper caste members in this capital city.
However throwing light on the changing electoral pattern, they said urban voters voted for the Congress for years together, shifted to the BJP out of compulsion as the Congress moved closer to the RJD which in its stride had spewed venom against the upper castes.
If the changes are any indication this time, the urban upper caste voters would also support on an individual basis for the Congress and the BJP to check the RJD.
"We are averse to Lalu's style of functioning as he has stalled the state's development and turned Bihar into a Jungle Raj," says Vinod, a bank officer.
"We are also against Paswan who has made a mockery of democracy by patronising criminalisation of politics." "Crime has no caste, and criminals have no place in politics, they can not be our representatives," says Sukhia, an upper caste Rajput who pulls rickshaw to sustain his family of five members.
Prominent among them, Rama Singh is contesting from Mahnar, Rajan Tiwary from Paliganj, Munna Sukla from Muzaffarpur and Sanjay Singh and Lallan Singh have not only been accepted as serious contenders but also as strong caste leaders.
In the absence of a projected leadership, the upper caste in the state politics in rural areas have as it appears accepted these hevyweights as their heroes, an answer to the RJD's rustic militancy.
Lalu's social justice plank which saw emergence of Yadavs as an electoral base of the RJD in Bihar has so far remained unchallenged, and as the 97 constituencies having a strong presence of this caste go to polls, the RJD, along with the caste card, strikes the key issue of development as its electoral plank harping with its slogan "Vikas abki baar." The upper caste, which in early days held sway over state's agrarian activities, gradually slipped to political oblivion with Lalu and his likes wooing the 'Mandal voters'.
Even political parties to which the upper caste had been traditionally loyal, went all out in search of a greener pasture experimenting social engineering in a bid to restrict Lalu's popularity among the weaker sections leading to marginalisation of the upper caste leaders.
Lalu's emergence in the state politics has been mainly on the plank of social justice and reservation to the backward communities and his party, the RJD, worked overtime to keep its base intact and further rope in the support of other communities, particularly the Muslims and even a section of upper castes.
Apparently in a mood to defy all earlier myths of socio-political engineering, the upper caste voters, particularly those living in the rural areas, are all set to register protest at the husting against the parties "for their support being taken for granted".
"When it comes to taking support the political parties come running, but once the elections are over, they never visit us even once," says Harikesh Singh who runs a 'paan' shop in the outskirts of this state capital.
The emerging pattern further hints strongly towards the emergence of musclemen in the state political canvass.
"The upper castes have been marginalised in the state politics, we need a leader who can fight for us, it does not matter even if he is a criminal, at least he can fight for us," says Girish Prasad of Mokama in Patna district.
Further hinting towards the emergence of the upper caste as a viable votebank, Prasad says, "If Muslims with fifteen per cent presence in the state are the most sought after support base, why can't the upper caste which is one per cent more strive for the revival of its political presence in Bihar? It is out of compulsion to check Lalu that we had rallied behind the two national parties, but as they failed, we are trying to regain our lost ground through our own representatives irrespective of party affiliations."
