Patna,(BiharTimes): Though the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders like Sushil Kumar Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav and Mangal Pandey have reacted angrily to RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s remarks on Mandal ‘bomb’ the truth is that the Bade Bhai and Chote Bhai of the Bihar politics have been forced by the circumstances to fall back on their old slogan.

This is simply because the BJP under Narendra Modi walked away with a large chunk of the OBC, EBC and Scheduled Caste votes.

The Koeris, Kurmis, Bania and a section of Yadavs––that is the core OBCs-–voted for the saffron brigade. They form about one-fourth of the state electorate.

The EBCs, who are numerically stronger than the OBCs, deserted the Janata Dal (United) so did the Mahadalits. In contrast the RJD managed to get much more Yadav and Muslim votes. But that was not enough for it.

Politially the OBCs in Bihar are much stronger reality than the EBCs which comprise over 100 castes.
It was eight decades back that the Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav formed Triveni Sangh. After 1960s these castes became strong votaries of the various socialist parties and backbone of anti-Congressism.

Later they entered several ultra-Left groups in the state. But the 2014 Lok Sabha election changed all this.

Thanks to the implementation of the Mandal Commission report the BJP failed to woo these castes in a big way during the famous Ram Mandir movement years.

Lalu is dreaming of the same old days of Mandal. So is the line being adopted by Nitish Kumar. Both are now realizing that they have to come together and do something to neutralize the impact of the BJP.

But then who among the two will gain more politically? Or will both end up as losers in the next Assembly election as in the Lok Sabha poll?

Their strategy is that if both join hands their support base of OBCs, EBCs, Mahadalits and Muslims would work wonder. In the two-day training camp in Vaishali last week Lalu Prasad said that the votes polled by both RJD and JD(U) stand at 45 per cent which is much higher than 39 per cent secured by the BJP-led alliance. It seems that both Lalu and Nitish are hopeful that they may get the votes of these sections. Even Nitish seems to have now lost the hope of getting the upper caste votes, especially of Bhumihars and Rajputs, which have shifted to the BJP.

But in the last 9-10 years the -Mandal forces have not remained as united as in the past. Yadavs, in general, have always been accusing Nitish of indulging in witch-hunt against them and of betraying the larger cause of the backwards to please the upper castes. How will they react to Lalu’s latest call remains to be seen?

And if Nitish really comes closer to Lalu several of his upper caste loyalists may move away from Janata Dal (United) as they still dislike the RJD chief. But these upper caste leaders have too lost their bargaining position. They have not ensured enough votes of their castes to JD(U). If they leave the JD(U) will they be really welcomed in the BJP. The saffron party is certainly interested in engineering split in the ruling party of Bihar, but how much will the new entrants from JD(U) be accommodated remains to be seen, as the BJP is already packed with upper caste leaders.