The issue of classification in reservation of Scheduled Castes i.e. SC is gaining prominence in Bihar. There is a tussle between the two constituent parties of the BJP-led NDA. There was a tussle between Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan ever since the Supreme Court approved the classification of Scheduled Castes in reservation on August 1. When Bharat Bandh was observed against the Supreme Court decision, Manjhi’s party opposed it, while Chirag Paswan’s party supported it. In fact, even in Bihar or other parts of the country, strong Scheduled Castes get more benefits of reservation and Chirag Paswan is the leader of one such strong Dalit caste.
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar had earlier divided Dalits and Mahadalits, in which only Paswan is among Dalits and all other Dalit castes are in Mahadalits. However, both Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan are cabinet ministers in Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre. But Chirag Paswan did not go to campaign in the by-election being held on Imamganj assembly seat in Bihar. He went to campaign for the BJP candidate but Chirag did not go to campaign in Imamganj from where his daughter-in-law Deepa Manjhi is contesting from Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party. It is being said that there are around 20 thousand Paswan votes in this area, to whom the message has been received that they have to vote against Manjhi’s daughter-in-law. There, Prashant Kishore has made Jitendra Paswan the candidate on Jan Suraj’s ticket. Paswan’s vote can go there. If this happens, the dispute between Manjhi and Chirag will increase further.