Nitish Kumar leverages massive gathering of Scheduled Caste communities in Patna to target his political opponents

Nitish Kumar urges BJP to take lessons from JD(U) rally, which attracted large turnout of SCs to reach out to them ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Apparently impressed by the massive ‘Bhim Sansad’ gathering of Scheduled Caste (SC) communities organised by his party, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said senior BJP leaders in Delhi should “take lessons” from the event.

In a bid to reach out to SC communities ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the JD(U) organised the rally at the Bihar Veterinary College Ground here. Mr. Kumar was the chief guest at the event. The rally was also a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been targeting Mr. Kumar for allegedly humiliating former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi. Mr. Manjhi belongs to an SC community and hails from very underprivileged circumstances.

Mr. Kumar has recently invited criticism from some sections of voters and from his political opponents, including Mr. Modi, over his controversial remarks on population control in the State Assembly (for which he later apologised), followed by his remark on Mr. Manjhi. Mr. Modi has slammed Mr. Kumar at election rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana over his remark on Mr. Manjhi; the PM also critiqued Mr. Kumar on his comment on population control, but without naming him.

Monday’s rally, however, attracted a large turnout of people, including women, from Mr. Manjhi’s caste, which Mr. Kumar sought to capitalise upon.

“The crowd is not less than two lakh over here because I could easily see that people were standing outside in large numbers. In fact, this programme should have been organised at Gandhi Maidan. I have been Chief Minister for 18 years and I have never ever seen such a huge gathering at this place. I must congratulate Ashok Choudhary-ji for organising this event,” Mr. Kumar said.

A prominent SC leader and Minister of the Building Construction Department, Mr. Choudhary toured different districts across the State for several weeks to mobilise people for the ‘Bhim Sansad’. A massive canopy and platform were erected for event, traffic diversions set-up, and large cut-outs of party leaders, including Mr. Kumar, welcomed visitors to the venue.

Mr. Kumar’s emphasis on the large crowd was a jibe directed at the BJP, which has organised several rallies since he snapped the ties with the saffron party and formed the government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress, and Left parties in Bihar. Union Minister Amit Shah has participated in six rallies, and BJP president J.P. Nadda has held two public meetings after Mr. Kumar parted ways with the BJP.