Anand Mohan Singh, a former MP who walked out of jail after his life sentence was prematurely terminated, is confident that following the caste-based survey in Bihar, it’s the upper caste which will play the role of kingmaker. “The fight is now between the Dalits and Backward Classes. They have to compete among each other,” he said, referring to the caste-based survey released by the Bihar government earlier this month which suggested that the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) comprise over 63% of the State population.
Singh, an upper caste Rajput bahubali (strongman) who was convicted in the 1994 lynching of a Dalit IAS officer, G. Krishnaiah, walked out of Saharsa jail in April this year after the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal(United)-Rashtriya Janata Dal government tweaked some provisions in the State’s jail manual to facilitate his release.
The release of the politician, who has wide acceptability among the land-owning Bhumihars as well, was largely seen as a move that would help the JD(U)-RJD alliance garner support from the upper caste communities. At the same time, it sent the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looking for new caste equations.
Founder of the now-defunct Bihar People’s Party (BPP), Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha twice on the JD(U) ticket in 1996 and 1998 from the Sheohar seat. In 1995, the BPP had contested 100 Assembly seats but Singh lost all the three seats he contested from, following which he aligned with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) through the JD(U).
While speaking to The Hindu, Singh said upper caste people enjoy the maximum acceptance among all the castes, which is why they can influence the backward classes and the Dalit votes big time. “Wherever we live, you will find Dalits, Muslims, Backward Classes and many other castes, but they all listen to us and follow us.” Even though he advocated the need for a similar exercise at the national level as well, Singh, in the same breath, said, “If numbers matter in a democracy, so does character and ideology. People who want to save their life will not go to doctors of their own caste only but to someone who is best in the business. Similarly, you will look for a good advocate and not just someone who belongs to your caste to fight a case in the court. A time will soon come when caste will not matter and only candidates will matter.”
Sticking to his upper caste pride, notwithstanding political obligations, Singh sparked a caste feud within the ruling mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) recently with his fierce objection to RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha’s quoting of a poem, Thakur ka Kuan (Thakur’s well), which made an appeal to “kill the Thakur within”, in Parliament. His son Chetan Anand, who is also an RJD MLA, lashed out at his party MP.
An angry Singh had alleged that Mr. Jha, a Brahmin, was acting as an agent of the BJP. He said, “He needs to kill the Brahmin within because the Thakur will not be killed.” In the process, Anand Mohan also opened a peephole for the BJP to shoot at the mahagathbandhan.
Asked to comment on why the RJD chief Lalu Prasad or JD(U) patriarch Nitish Kumar did not conduct the caste survey for 30 years despite being in power, Singh said, “Are politicians saints? Don’t you think that they will look after their own interests? Although I don’t find it wrong… I always tell my people not to run away from reality and accept it, provided the survey results are accurate.”
When asked who he was more loyal to — the RJD supremo or the JD(U) chief — this is what Singh has to say: “I am not a bonded labour nor a slave. I will continue to be friends only with those who will give me respect and treat me equally. Wafadar toh kutte hote hai, Rajput toh samman ka bhuka hota hai (It is dogs who are loyal, Rajput are hungry for respect).”
