Patna: The merger of Upendra Kushwaha led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) into Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] is, apparently, part of the Bihar chief minister’s initiative to reach out to the Koiris – a backward caste that is electorally significant – to make up for the heavy losses that his party suffered in the 2020 assembly elections.
And Kushwaha – whose RLSP drew a blank in the 2020 Bihar assembly elections – too saw merit in Nitish’s initiative. In a way, the reunion of Nitish and Kushwaha – for the third time in the past 12 years – is their mutual gameplan to unite their respective castes behind them; Nitish is a Kurmi and Kushwaha is a Koiri.
The exact number of Koiris and Kurmis in Bihar is not known. But it is estimated that these two castes constitute about 10% of the state’s voters. Between the two castes, Koiris are more in number and are almost evenly spread to the north and south of the Ganga, while the Kurmis are less in number and mainly confined to the Magadh region.
What, apparently, has coaxed Nitish to extend the hand of friendship to Kushwaha – who divorced the Bihar CM twice, first in 2009 and again in 2013 and turned bitterly critical of him – was the JD(U)’s assessment that the RLSP secured 5,000-35,000 votes in almost 30 assembly constituencies, denting its the ruling party’s strength and reducing it to 43 MLAs. As a consequence, it emerged as the junior partner in the coalition, behind the BJP’s 74.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Photo: PTI
Will Koiris come back to the JD(U)?
Now the question arises if the RLSP, which had fielded candidates of different castes depending on the reality of the constituency, has a large Koiri voter base. And if at all Koiris formed a major chunk of those who voted for RLSP candidates and against the JD(U), would they also be willing to follow Kushwaha’s migration? Does Kushwaha have as much acceptance among members of his caste as Nitish has among the Kurmis? Do the Koiris, despite their numerical superiority over the Kurmis, enjoy a proportionate share in the power structure at the level of governance and also the cadre of the JD(U)?
In fact, Nitish – despite his long experience of operating in combinations and permutations of the castes in Bihar – will find it hard to answer these questions. It is because the Kurmis, despite their numerical inferiority over the Koiris, constitute the “nucleus” of his JD(U). The CM himself is a Kurmi and Ramchandra Prasad Singh – another Kurmi – is its national president.
Of course, Nitish has made Kushwaha the party’s parliamentary board chairman. But this high-sounding position has little functional power. This may allow Kushwaha to have some say in selecting candidates at the time of elections, which are a long time away. Speculations are rife in Bihar’s political circles that Nitish might draft Snehalata, Upendra’s wife, in his council of ministers or might nominate her to the legislative council. But such a move will be perceived as the CM extending a personal favour to Kushwaha rather than an exercise to ensure Koiris have a share in the JD(U)’s power structure.
RJD pre-empted Nitish’s move
Two days ahead of RLSP’s merger, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswhi Prasad Yadav practically stripped Kushwaha’s party of many of its senior leaders. Led by RLSP’s state president Virendra Kushwaha, as many as 41 of its functionaries – including some very senior and influential ones – joined the RJD. “The RLSP expelled Upendra Kushwaha and has merged itself into the RJD,” Tejashwi tweeted the day Upendra joined the JD(U). If the cadre is taken into consideration, they largely shifted to the RJD and Upendra – stripped off his cadre – joined the JD(U).
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav presents the party member slip to former Rashtriya Lok Samta Party Working President Virendra Kushwaha (2l) after he joined the party along with senior leaders, in Patna, March 12, 2021. Photo: PTI
‘Luv-Kush’ myth
Nitish’s strategists popularised the narrative of ‘Luv-Kush’ combination when Nitish rode to power replacing Rabri Devi in 2005. Anecdotally, the Kurmis are said to trace their descent from Lord Rama’s son Luv, while the Koiris trace their roots to his other son Kush. Traditionally, they are both agriculturalists but their social and educational status differs vastly.
While the Kurmis have been upwardly mobile in post-Independence Bihar, scaling the ladder of social and educational status, the Koiris are as socially and educationally backward as the Yadavs or other OBCs The Kurmis – particularly the Awadhia Kurmi group which Nitish belongs to – have practically the same status among the backward castes as the Bramins have among the upper castes. Ever since the 1960s and 70s, the Kurmis have manned key positions in bureaucracy, education, engineering and health. In fact, they joined the land-owning upper castes in forming a landlords’ sena (militia) in the 1970s. They were involved in the massacre of Dalits in the 1970s at Belchi in Patna district. Indira Gandhi had travelled to Belchi on an elephant’s back to assuage the Dalits against the wrath of the Kurmi landlords, helping her gain the support of the deprived sections and stage a come back to power in 1980.
On the other hand, the Koiris have always been at the forefront of the battle by the weaker sections against the tyranny of the landlords. Jagdeo Prasad – an ardent follower of Ram Manohar Lohia’s brand of socialism and a Koiri – was described as the “Lenin of Bihar” for his fierce campaign against feudalism. He was gunned down by landlords at Kurtha in the Jehanabad district in the 1970s.
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Koiris and Lalu
Nitish emerged as a leader of his caste after addressing the Kurmi Chetna rally in 1994. He left the Janata Dal and pitted himself against Lalu Prasad, the then chief minister and Janata Dal leader.
Lalu’s accommodation of popular Koiri leaders – Nagmani, Shakuni Choudhary, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha and many others in the RJD – meant there was never a feeling of antagonism among the Koiris against Lalu. Of course, the Koiris and many other backward castes voted against Rabri Devi in 2005, but this was more due to the anti-incumbency sentiment after 15 years of Lalu-Rabri rule rather than a caste-based consideration.
As a matter of fact, the Koiris voted against Nitish in 2020 too because of the anti-incumbency against him rather than caste-based considerations.
Thus, it may not be accurate to conclude that the JD(U) will gain the support of Koiris simply because Upendra Kushwaha has joined Nitish’s company. The Koiris have no reason to disown the RJD either, which has more Koiri representatives in its cadre and leadership than the JD(U).
Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author and professor of journalism and mass communications at Invertis University, Bareilly.