Patna: BJP neta and SC/ST welfare minister Lakhendra Kumar Raushan on Monday said the war of words between Union ministers Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan over the demand for a review of the SC/ST reservation system was largely aimed at establishing themselves as the principal political figures of the Dalit community in Bihar.Raushan said both Manjhi’s HAM(S) and Chirag’s LJP(RV) were part of the NDA at the Centre and in Bihar, questioning why the issue had become a source of confrontation between them.With the Supreme Court allowing sub-categorisation within Scheduled Castes and empirical data available in Bihar to identify relatively more deprived communities, Raushan said the issue should be approached sensitively and without political posturing.“Both Manjhi and Chirag are senior NDA netas. They should first honestly start giving opportunities to other people from their respective communities to contest elections from SC-reserved constituencies,” Raushan told this newspaper. He questioned how many people outside their families had been helped by the two to advance politically.Raushan, who belongs to the Paswan community, said reservation was a constitutional right and should not be treated as charity. He said as long as Narendra Modi remained Prime Minister, nobody could tamper with reservation or alter its basic framework.The minister said a war of words would not resolve the issue and termed demands for ministers’ resignations over the controversy futile.RJD state president Mangani Lal Mandal said there was nothing wrong with reviewing reservation arrangements, arguing a review did not mean its abolition.Senior BJP functionary and revenue and land reforms minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal took a cautious stand, saying both Manjhi and Chirag were right from their respective perspectives.Former CM Nitish Kumar had created the Mahadalit category in 2007, covering 18 of Bihar’s 22 Dalit castes, to identify communities facing greater deprivation. Manjhi has sought sub-categorisation for greater benefits to the Musahar community, while Chirag fears such a move could affect the Paswan community’s political position within the larger Dalit constituency.
