Panel report in, Paswans kept out of Mahadalits
April 19, 2010: The Indian Express
In what should come as good news for LJP president Ramvilas Paswan, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has decided against including Paswans in Mahadalit category, but not before offering several Mahadalit sops to them.
On Saturday evening, the Bihar State Mahadalit Commission submitted its fourth recommendations to the CM, asking for not including Paswans — the only one of the 22 Scheduled Castes in Bihar left out from the Mahadalit category.
While Kumar announced that the government would soon set up separate commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the commission offered a very feeble logic for “last-minute exclusion¶ by saying public representatives of the Paswan community had requested them not to include them in the category.
“The government has decided to set up SC/ST commissions. Some people (read Paswan) have been unnecessarily targeting me for dividing society. The fact remains I have worked for all weaker sections on socio-economic fringes,¶ the CM said.
He added that the government would soon try to implement the commission’s recommendations that suggest distribution of three decimal land each to a family, priority in admission to schools, scholarships and school uniforms up to Class II students of Paswan community. There are over 40.71 lakh Paswans in Bihar.
Citing Paswans’ bigger involvement in politics than other SCs — Bhola Paswan becoming the chief minister and Ramvilas Paswan Union minister — as another reason for non-inclusion of Paswans in Mahadalits, the commission, however, held that Paswans were as as much backward as other SCs in Mahadalits. “In 13-point recommendations to the state government, the commission also wanted to train burly Paswans as government and private security guards,¶ said commission member Babban Rawat.
The LJP president, however, said Paswans would not be beguiled by Nitish’s “divisive and populist¶ tricks. “I was always opposed to Paswans’ inclusion as Mahadalit — an insulting term coined by the RSS on the lines of Mahachandal. Nitish has been trying to blackmail Paswans by offering Mahadalit sops,¶ he told The Indian Express.
“Let our government come, we will give one bigha plot for every Dalit family. Whatever he is giving us is our constitutional right, not khairat (alms),¶ he added
Asked if Nitish was soft on him by leaving out his home constituency, Paswan said, “Nitish is confused. There is not even remote possibility of me supporting Nitish. My alliance with the RJD is rock solid. I believe in ‘pran jaye par vachan na jaye’ politics.¶
JD(U) sources, however, said Nitish had only intended to “threaten Ramvilas Paswan’s politics¶ by offering Mahadalit carrots, “but by not including Paswans in Mahadalits, he has kept his Paswan option open¶.
