Though Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, have lent support to the movement of agitating Patels of Gujarat for their own political end, the state BJP is caught in an embarrassing position because it can no more sell the Gujarat model of development any more. It is the repercussion of that model which had led to the closure of 60,000 small and medium enterprises, mostly owned by Patels, in the last one decade. Author and social scientist, Achyut Yagnik holds prime minister, Narendra Modi, directly responsible for the failure of this model of development as he promoted big industries.

But what is feared most in the poll-bound Bihar is that there are elements in the state, who are watching the demand of reservation by Patels of Gujarat, or for that matter Jats of other north Indian states closely.

One can not rule out the potential of some upper caste youths to fill the streets with demand of reservation末as one can not dream of scrapping the concept of quota.

After all the four upper castes of Bihar are economically, politically and numerically not as strong as Patels of Gujarat and Jats of other states.

If such agitation is launched any day in the state it would land both the ruling combination and opposition BJP-led NDA in a very difficult situation. What would be their stand then. If the agitation by Patels, usually considered as the backbone of the BJP, has weakened the saffron party there it is to be seen what would be the reaction in Bihar.

Unlike in Gujarat where 40 out of 120 BJP MLAs are from Patel community and chief minister and seven other ministers末including finance and home末hail from this caste, in Bihar no upper castes末or for that matter any caste末enjoy such a strong clout. If a feeling of deprivation can be whipped up among the youths of the community which is so strong, then in this era of social media anywhere in the country such agitation can be launched. Patels in Gujarat alone form more than the entire upper caste population of Bihar, which is something around 14-15 per cent.

Like Patels the entire upper castes of Bihar are inclined towards the BJP. But there is maximum resentment against Narendra Modi痴 policy in this very section too.

Be it the issue of land acquisition or marginal increase in Minimum Support Price there is anger in this section as they still hold a large chunk of agricultural land. The failure of the central government in creating new jobs is also hitting this section more. There is already a sense of denial of jobs too末because of reservation. Therefore, there is enough potential for some frustrated elements to resort to Patel type agitation.

Patel痴 switched over to the BJP in mid-1980s because of the reservation policy of the then Congress government. The upper castes of Bihar did so in 1990s after the implementation of Mandal commission report. Now as the slogan of Mandal-II rent the air, the upper castes are feeling the heat. But like the Patels of Gujarat they are groping where to go as only a miniscule number of this section has been benefited by the policy of promoting big business houses.