The Opposition INDIA alliance is looking to take on the ruling BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on the plank of social justice, especially in Bihar which has a long history of socialist politics.

The coming weeks would mark a resurgence of conflict between the BJP and the Opposition parties over “Kamandal” versus “Mandal” politics. This is set to see an escalation in the next 10 days, which will see three crucial developments—the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22, the launch of the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra by Rahul Gandhi from Manipur on January 14, and the birth anniversary celebrations of socialist icon Karpoori Thakur in Bihar by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (U).

In the course of Rahul’s nearly two-month-long Yatra from Thoubal near Imphal to Mumbai, the Congress will mainly raise the issues related to “arthik nyay, samajik nyay and rajnitik nyay (economic, social and political justice)”.

The Congress has invited its INDIA bloc allies to join the Yatra in their strongholds, which would also rake up their demand for a nationwide caste census.

On October 2 last year, the Nitish-led Mahagathbandhan government, which includes Lalu Prasad-led RJD and the Congress among others, released the data of a caste survey in Bihar in which Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) were found to make up over 63% of the state’s population.These findings strengthened the demand of the INDIA parties for a caste count.

Facing the “Mandal pressure”, the BJP central leadership called a meeting of its Chief Ministers and senior OBC leaders in November to discuss the “advantages and disadvantages” of the party’s current position of not going for a caste count.

Meanwhile, the JD(U) is now gearing up for commemoration of Karpoori’s birth anniversary on a grand scale in Bihar in a bid to give a fresh push to the cause of social justice.

The JD(U) will hold various programmes and events during January 22-24 to mark Karpoori’s birth anniversary, which will encomapass Patna as well as his village Pitaunjhiya—now renamed Karpoori Gram— in Samastipur district. Nitish will attend some of these events.

Karpoori’s son and JD(U) MP Ram Nath Thakur said that there will a seminar, “Karpoori Charcha”, in Karpuri Gram on January 22. Some books on Karpoori will be released in Patna on January 23. On January 24, Nitish will attend the events both in Patna and Samastipur.

“The government is organising the programmes whereas the party is holding ‘Karpoori Charchas’ (discussions on Karpoori Thakur) across Bihar,” Thakur said.

Karpoori, a two-time Bihar CM and a towering socialist leader, is widely considered as the pioneer of OBC and EBC reservations in the country.

As the CM in 1978, Thakur implemented a layered reservation regime, despite resistance from the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, a major constituent of the then Janata Party government. The quota system, an unparalleled one at that time, provided a 26% reservation model in which OBCs got 12%, EBCs from among OBCs got 8%, women got 3%, and economically backward classes (EBWs) from among the upper castes got 3%.

“This is a coincidence that consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir and Karpoori Jayanti both are happening at the same time. After B R Ambedkar, only Karpoori Takur had raised the issue of reservation and social justice effectively,” said the JD(U)’s chief spokesperson K C Tyagi.

He asserted that the JD(U) celebrates Karpoori Jayanti every year and calls for the Bharat Ratna for him. “This time, the demand of Bharat Ratna will be more aggressive. Also we demand that a university should be developed in Karpoori’s name,” he said.

Tyagi claimed that the politics of social justice has remained at the forefront like the Ram Temple issue. “Just like Ram Mandir politics cannot be ignored, it is also not easy to ignore Karpoori Thakur politics. Both have acceptability. Now the BJP is also not opposing reservation,” he said, adding that Nitish took forward “Karpoori Thakur’s formula of reservation”.

Notably, the Mandal and Kamandal politics saw their emergence simultaneously in the late 1980s. In August 1990, the then V P Singh government had announced in Parliament its approval of the Mandal Commission.

A month later, top BJP leader L K Advani took out the Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath with a plan to reach Ayodhya. However, on its way he was arrested in Samastipur.