Bharat Ratna To Karpoori Thakur Leads To War Of Words, Congress Points At Caste Census

Thirty-six years after his demise, the Centre on Monday announced that it will posthumously award the Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur, former Bihar Chief Minister. The announcement from Rashtrapati Bhavan came a day ahead of the 100th birth anniversary of the socialist leader, popularly known as ‘Jannayak’, and received praise from leaders across the political board as being a deserving honour. However, there was also some criticism from opposition parties who felt that this was simply the BJP's move to attract voters.

Born in the nai (barber) caste, Karpoori Thakur emerged as the tallest leader for the backward caste in Bihar. He held the position of Chief Minister of Bihar for two non-consecutive terms – from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979. During his tenure, he took several key decisions like removing English as a compulsory language in matriculation examinations, prohibiting alcohol, and giving preference to unemployed engineers in government contracts. He also introduced a layered reservation system, eventually known as the ‘Karpoori Thakur Formula’, which though led to his downfall, became his legacy on which his proteges like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar won elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi penned a tribute for ‘Jannayak’ Thakur, which he shared on social media on Thakur’s birth centenary. "I bow to Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur Ji on his birth centenary. On this special occasion, our Government has had the honour of conferring the Bharat Ratna on him. I’ve penned a few thoughts on his unparalleled impact on our society and polity," he wrote on X, sharing his write-up. 

Home Minister Amit Shah said, "The decision of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to honour Karpoori Thakur ji with Bharat Ratna on his birth centenary is a true tribute to his tireless struggles." Similar reactions poured in from other BJP leaders too.

Notably, the announcement of the highest civilian award comes a day after the Prime Minister’s Ayodhya speech, which had references to Dalit and Adivasi characters from Ramayana. Over the past few years, there has been also a rise in BJP’s attempts to woo Dalit and Adivasi voters in their election campaigns. As a result, questions have been raised about the timing of the Bharat Ratna announcement just months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, as being merely tokenism to change its "pro-upper caste" image. Experts have also said that the BJP is trying to win a slice of the Economically Backward Castes (EBCs) from Nitish Kumar and Lalu’s Yadav and Muslim vote bank.

Reactions From Bihar

While leaders in Bihar have largely welcomed the announcement, there has been a sense of suspicion that the BJP is eyeing to break the gathbandhan between Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar. After an apparent rift between Kumar and the INDIA bloc over the position of convener, there were speculations that the Bihar Chief Minister could walk out of the alliance and even rejoin the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of Lok Sabha polls. While these remain rumours for now, some users on social media were quick to point out that Kumar deleted his initial post and revised his post to include a line thanking the Prime Minister.

"We have always been demanding to give 'Bharat Ratna' to Late Karpoori Thakur ji. The years old demand has been fulfilled today. Thanks to Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for this," read his revised post on X last night. 

Nitish Kumar had dumped the BJP in 2022 to join hands with the RJD and make Tejashwi Yadav his deputy. But the long-standing Bihar chief minister has jumped ship several times. He had ended his 17-year alliance with the BJP in 2013 and joined the RJD and Congress in 2015 to win the Assembly polls and form government. In 2017, he dumped the Mahagathbandan and rejoined the NDA and contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well as the 2020 assembly polls, only to again cut ties two years later.

Meanwhile, Kumar's subsequent statement while speaking to reporters today, as he rushed to claim credit for his Thakur’s Ratna award, was a jibe at the Prime Minister, who, he said, "may claim full credit for the move".

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav also highlighted that Thakur should have received the honour long back. "We raised this voice from the House to the streets, but the Central Government woke up when the present Bihar government of social concern conducted the caste census and increased the scope of reservation for the benefit of Bahujans. Whether by fear or not, politics will have to focus on the concerns of Dalit Bahujan," he said in a pointed attack on BJP’s recent social justice outreach. 

Yadav's son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav added to this saying the Centre "had to take this decision" as a result of the RJD-JDU government's caste survey and its results.

A Snub at INDIA Bloc

At the same time, Congress is seeing this as a snub at the INDIA bloc’s caste census outreach. While welcoming the decision, Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh said that it reflects the Narendra Modi government's “desperation and hypocrisy”. The party said that 'Bhagidari Nyay' is one of the five pillars of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, for which Rahul Gandhi has been advocating the need for a nationwide caste census. “The Modi Government has all along refused to release the results of the Socio Economic Caste Census 2011 and also refused to commit itself to conduct an updated nationwide caste census which will be the most appropriate tribute to Jannayak Karpoori Thakurji," Ramesh said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on his ‘Nyay’ Yatra right now, alleged that the BJP government's "concealment" of the results of the social and economic caste census conducted in 2011 and their "indifference" towards a nationwide census is an attempt to weaken the movement for social justice. He termed BJP’s recognition of Thakur “politics of symbolism” and asserted that only a caste census would be a “true tribute” to Karpoori Thakur.