Patna,(BiharTimes): Even as the presence of chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and other leaders of both the NDA constituents at the time of filing of nomination papers of the three Bihar Legislative Council candidates on Friday is being interpreted as a sign of improvement in relationship the saffron party, it seems, has started expanding its support base in the state on its own.
After Janata Dal (United)’s Extreme Backward Castes and Mahadalit Cells meetings in Rajgir a few days back it is the BJP’s turn to woo other left out sections of the society.

On Friday the BJP organized the birth anniversary of Baba Chauharmal, a legendary Dalit leader of the Paswan (Dussadh) community who fought against injustices meted out to downtrodden classes. 

Speaking on the occasion, Sushil Kumar Modi sought to assure them that the party would not harm their interests as long as it was a force in Bihar.

It seems to be a conscious decision to court Paswans as their community leaders allege that they have been deliberately ignored by the Nitish Kumar government as it is the only one among the 22 Dalit sub-castes to be excluded from the list of Mahadalits. 

Though the State Mahadalit Commission did not deem Paswan fit to get the benefits of Mahadalits political observers are of the view that they have been ignore because of their loyalty to the Lok Janshakti Party leader, Ram Vilas Paswan. In fact Ravidas (cobblers or chamars), another Dalit sub-caste, are socially, economically and educationally on par with Paswans yet the former was included in the Mahadalit while latter not.

Now the BJP is trying to cash in on this general resentment of Paswans against the Nitish Kumar government. As at present they are inclinded towards RJD-LJP combine the BJP would certainly like to woo them and dissociate itself from the step taken by the Nitish Kumar government.

Modi told the Paswans at the function organized at Ravindra Bhavan not to feel insecure as they have been included in over 90 per cent of welfare schemes meant for Dalits. 

Numerically too Paswans and Ravidas form the strongest of Dalit sub-castes and any move to woo any one of them is likely to yield good result. They form a sizeable section of total 15.1 per cent of Dalit votes. But much depends on BJP’s ability to lure them as Paswans blame the Hindutva party, along with Janata Dal (United), for ignoring them as both the constituents are part of the ruling alliance in Bihar.

The state BJP chief Mangal Pandey chose the occasion to state that there were exactly a dozen cabinet ministers from among Dalits in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. This was the highest since Independence. 
Former Union minister and BJP’s Schedule Caste Morcha chief, Sanjay Paswan, took the opportunity to attack Ram Vilas Paswan, saying the LJP is only centered around Parivar (family), shringar (fashion) and vyapar (business).

But BJP’s effort is being interpreted as too late too little. Many leaders within the party regret that the party wasted seven long years and did not cultivate its relationship with those castes or sub-castes, who were ignored by the Janata Dal (United).