Barely one-and-a-half months before the Bihar Assembly elections, the Opposition INDIA bloc made its most decisive bid yet to woo the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) Wednesday as it released its Atipichhda Nyay Sankalp (resolution for justice for EBCs).
The 10-point resolution includes promises ranging from a dedicated law to prevent atrocities against members of the EBCs on the lines of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, to increasing the EBC reservation in panchayats from 20% to 30%, to doing away with the “not suitable for” clause in recruitment in reserved jobs.
The resolution was unveiled at an event in Patna by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and several other INDIA alliance leaders.
The move is also being seen as the Opposition alliance’s attempt to wean away the EBCs—who make up around 36% of Bihar’s population and form the state’s largest electoral constituency—from the NDA, while also reaching out to the EBC communities in other states.
The Nyay Sankalp is intended to signal to the EBCs that the RJD is not merely a Yadav party, seeking to broadbase its appeal among the backward class communities. It also seeks to convey that the Congress under Rahul Gandhi is serious about embracing backward communities which the grand old party had not been seen to be closely associated with in north India in the past.
Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, who came to power in alliance with his NDA ally BJP, has been aware that his caste, Kurmis—who make up around 3% of Bihar’s population— is numerically smaller than Yadavs, who constitute about 14% of population. He therefore decided to carve his fresh constituencies among the EBCs, women, and Mahadalits (Dalits except Paswans—though he eventually included Paswans in the category, thus rendering it defunct).
The EBCs always stood by Nitish, making him a major player in Bihar politics, even though the JD(U) is currently the third-largest party in the state behind the BJP and the RJD.
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The EBC factor is seen as capable of tilting the scales in favour of any alliance that Nitish is part of, and the Nyay Sankalp is clearly aimed at breaching his EBC support base.
In Bihar, the EBCs comprise around 130 groups and sub-groups, such as Nai (barbers), fishermen (bearing surnames like Sahani, Nishad, and Kevat), Lohar (blacksmiths), Teli (oil traders), and Nonia (traditionally salt-makers). Some of these groups already have their own smaller parties in Bihar, but they lack the heft to exert statewide influence.
In other northern states, the BJP has successfully garnered significant support among EBCs, which has been a major factor behind its rise in states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh over the last decade, even though it suffered reverses in UP in 2024. This makes it all the more important for the INDIA bloc to present itself as a credible alternative to the BJP, so as to prevent the EBCs from flocking back to it.
Since 2006, Nitish has introduced several measures to consolidate his influence within the EBC groups. In 2006, his Cabinet approved 20% reservation for EBCs in district boards, panchayat samitis, and gram panchayats. In 2010, he announced a new entrepreneurship scheme wherein eligible members received state assistance of Rs 10 lakh to set up small businesses.
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Nitish’s bid to reach out to the EBCs was seen as a response to ally-turned-rival Lalu Prasad’s Muslim-Yadav support base, which had helped the RJD stay in power for 15 years between 1990 and 2005. Lalu’s rise marked the decline of upper-caste dominance in the state, as he rode the Mandal wave that promised social justice for the OBCs. However, a perception gradually grew that Lalu’s power meant power primarily for Yadavs and Ashraf Muslims. His tenure as the CM had a catalytic effect – it made all backward communities more aspirational, although it also made the EBCs realise that they were not the real beneficiaries of the RJD regime, which was seen as favouring Yadavs, a dominant community among the OBCs.
The 2023 Bihar caste survey further highlighted the electoral significance of the EBCs, showing them to be just above Dalits in terms of landholding and wealth. After the publication of the survey, Nitish decided to hike quota for the SCs, STs, OBCs and EBCs in the state from 50% to 65%, but the Patna High Court later struck it down.