Caste politics not good for Bihar in long run: Vikassheel's Mukesh Sahni

The general belief is that you have power if you are from a certain caste, said Sahni

Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), which could not reach an accommodation with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance in Bihar, has dramatically walked over to the other side of the fence and is going to contest 11 seats, which the BJP has allotted it, in the upcoming Assembly polls. He speaks to Shikha Shalini about his plans. Edited excerpts:
 
Don’t you think your caste (Nishad) base is not big enough to justify your claim to the number of seats you have?
 
It is a fact that caste politics in Bihar intensified after 1990. The general belief is that you have power if you are from a certain caste. There are so many examples: Ram Vilas Paswan, Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar ... All of them have tried to mobilise the people of their caste and ideology and raised their voice to be in power. This is a successful experiment. However, politics came to me as an accident.

 

Why? You have been in constant touch with almost every big party in the state and you are creating a good space for yourself in state politics.
 
I was a simple worker in the early phase of my life and started my journey with a salary of Rs 900 a month. But when I became financially self-sufficient, I organised a rally of the people of my community — the fisherman, known as Nishad — in February 2014 in Darbhanga. It was successful. That year Lok Sabha candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United), and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) approached me for help. I worked hard for the BJP’s candidates but when the election was over, no one thanked me. In 2015, I again helped the party when then BJP president Amit Shah promised me he would address my demands. But the BJP couldn’t come to power in the state. My only demand was that the fishermen community should get scheduled caste (SC) status because some states have acceded to this demand. When nobody took note of it, I decided to form a party because we have a vote bank. In 2018, I formed the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP). I respect Lalu Prasad for the way he fought for social justice and that was my main reason for joining the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan.

 
What was the need for such a dramatic exit from the Mahagathbandhan? You stormed out of the seat-sharing...
 
Two months before the elections I talked to Tejasvi Yadav (RJD leader) and he conceded the point that I should be given 25 seats and the post of deputy chief minister. But when they said at the meeting that they would defer the announcement of the seats allocated to me, I felt cheated. I had no choice.
 
In 2019, when by-elections were held in a vacant Lok Sabha seat and five Assembly constituencies, the RJD informed its alliance partners at the last moment it would contest all seats itself though it was agreed earlier that we would be given one to contest in. I opposed this and said I would contest one, Simri Bakhtiarpur, and Jitan Ram Manjhi one. The RJD was the winner in Simri Bakhtiarpur, the BJP second, and my party third with more than 25,000 votes. It became clear in that election I have a solid vote bank.

 
How do you rate the 15 years of Nitish Kumar’s chief ministership?
 
There is still a lot of work to be done. In comparison with other states, Bihar is very low on every parameter. But we can’t ignore the work that has been done. Nitish Kumar is a better choice than Tejasvi Yadav. He has a vision.
 
What is your vision for Bihar?
 
Since 2015 I have been raising my voice for the rights of the Nishad community. If we come to power, we will consider fulfilling their demands and work for the progress of Bihar. But I also believe that caste politics cannot be good for Bihar in the long run.

 
The Lok Janshakti Party’s (LJP’s) Chirag Paswan is saying that he has no animus against the BJP. What are the chances of his rejoining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state?
 
Chirag Paswan has fielded a candidate in my seat. There is no association of the LJP with the BJP in Bihar.