But it was the RJD’s softening attitude towards Manjhi and its eulogy of his action that has created ripples. Only on Saturday senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a close confidant of RJD chief Lalu Prasad struck a discordant note by suggesting that Janata Parivar merger would be incomplete, rather fail to kick off, with Manjhi. As if this was not enough he also said that Nitish should not have cancelled the decisions taken by Manjhi government. He in fact questioned the rationale of Nitish’s action; “Why is Nitish in hurry? He is yet to prove his majority on the floor of the house. Let him first prove his majority. Nitish could have waited till March 11, before taking any policy decision”.

Only four days back Singh had come out with the suggestion to Nitish Kumar to induct Manjhi in his cabinet as the deputy chief minister. Singh is known to speak the mind of Lalu. Though his statement was rebutted by the Leader of the RLD legislature group Abdul Bari Siddiqui, interestingly no one on behalf of Lalu officially refuted it. Little doubt Singh’s latest stance on Manjhi has added a new dimension to the existing political scenario.

On his part Manjhi too has reciprocated the RJD overtures. Earlier Manjhi used to blame Lalu also for his involvement in ouster-Manjhi campaign. But it was for the first time on Sunday. Manjhi publically acknowledged him as the only capable leader. This was Manjhi’s strategic political move.. Lalu skipping Nitish’s swearing in ceremony on February 22, in fact did not go unnoticed. While chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee along with dozens of senior opposition leaders were witness to Nitish’s coronation, his elder brother Lalu preferred to stay back in Saifai, home town of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Lalu was supposed to be the most important dignitary. But he did not come. He was in Saifai to look after the engagement ceremony of his daughter. In fact he was angry with Nitish for inducting Lalan Singh and P K Shahi as the cabinet ministers. Jitan Ram Manjhi had sacked these two persons from his cabinet. While finalising the names of the probable ministers Lalu had objected to their induction and if the party sources are to be believed, the list cleared by Lalu did not have their names. But on the day of swearing their names were included in the list and forwarded to the Governor. Coming to know of this maneouvering, Lalu was quite angry and in Saifai itself had quipped the act as “great betrayal”.

This was that Lalu Yadav did not allow his RJD legislators to join the Nitish government. However some of his senior party colleagues held that since he had already committed his support to Nitish, at this stage going back would not look nice. But Lalu held his ground. The RJD leaders say that his anger could have been appreciated if Nitish was on a sticky pitch and was not sure of continuing in office till assembly elections. Usually the political leaders prefer to stay in power to use its benefits and also the state administration during the elections. But this perspective has also did not prevail upon Lalu. These two persons Lalan Singh and P K Shahi have in fact been responsible for Lalu’s present political plight and being debarred from contesting the election. Lalan Singh is the petitioner and Shahi was his advocate in fodder scam case.

Yet another factor that forces Lalu to look for new pasture is the simmering discontent among the Yadavs against Nitish. It is feared that Yadavs may not go the whole hog supporting Nitish. Even if his stand is viewed in the backdrop of compulsion of real politik, his opposing Manjhi has not been appreciated by his own men. It was without reason that almost all the important faces of the RJD were against his decision. Nevertheless Lalu may not prefer to strike back against Nitish at this stage as it would prove to be pre mature and counter- productive and simply add to the strength of BJP.

Ironically the move to revive the united Janata Parivar has become the victim of this cold war. With a reluctant Lalu, things are not moving in the right direction. During the last three months of the Bihar crisis the task of unifying the Janata Parivar was completely ignored. Unfortunately after January 2015 the inner conflicts and contradictions between RJD and JD (U) have marked the process. This has been happening at the risk of ignoring the saffron challenge to their hegemony.

Lalu nursing a soft corner for Manjhi has many dimensions. First, Manjhi has emerged as the axis of the dalit unity. Second, with the BJP not keen to accept Manjhi in its fold for fear of antagonizing and alienating its upper caste support base, for Lalu he is the best ally in the existing scenario. Manjhi joining hands with Lalu will not alienate the Yadavs from Lalu. In fact the Yadavs have been supporting him in his fight against Nitish. Third, Nitish would be a burden on him as he does not have his own independent support base. His own caste men constitute hardly 1.5 per cent of the state’s population.

If Lalu is being viewed as the person who aroused the aspirations of the backward caste and made them conscious of their rights, Manjhi is being projected as the new messiah of dalits who not only tried to make them politically conscious but also realized them of their economic contribution to Bihar. There is a general feeling that if they come together the face of Bihar will be altered. However in the present backdrop it appears to be a utopian concept. In Bihar the intermediate castes have antagonistic relations with the dalits and harijans. The state has been witness to a number of bloody clashes and massacres. Even today clashes take place.

While announcing the formation of Hindustani Awami Morcha (HAM) at “Garib Swabhiman Karyakarta Sammelan” at Patna, just a week after the Aam Aadmi Party swept to power in Delhi on a pro-common man agenda, Jitan Ram Manjhi vowed to follow Arvind Kejriwal’s model in Bihar. While the meet witnessed an all-out attack on Nitish, with leaders calling him “power hungry” they refrained from targeting Lalu. The front will strive for political awakening of Dalits which would transcend caste barriers to emerge as a vital force. The prime mission of the HAM would be to awaken the Dalits in Bihar who are completely unaware of their rights and privileges,

Little doubt the formation of HAM would define the direction and character of the Dalit politics in Eastern Indian states. In the past Bihar had some dalit leaders but they failed to carry forward the exclusive dalit agenda and more or less, remained immersed in the political mainstream. The powerful dalit leaders like Jagjivan Ram and Ram Vilas Paswan, too, failed to provide a foothold to the surge of a potent dalit movement in the state. The dalit political leadership continued to dance at the tunes of upper caste leaders. No dalit leader mustered courage to speak in the terms of “Upper castes are foreigners and they are descendants of the Aryans. Dalits and the tribals are the original inhabitants of the country” or “The dalit youths must marry within and outside their castes to increase the population. Dalits and tribals constitute around 22 percent of the population and it’s time for them to unite to be in a position to have their own chief minister. Rat eating is not bad and I eat rodents.”

The BJP would certainly like to use Manjhi for its political gains consolidation. But Lalu is also not a naiveté to allow the situation to slip out of his hands. He is watching the situation with keen interest. (IPA Service)