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With the announcement of awarding Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur, a hero from the backward castes of the country has received the country’s highest honor for the first time. Before this. Kamaraj and MG Ramachandran have received this honour. Although both of them belonged to backward castes, but in Tamil Nadu these castes are resourceful in every way. In such a situation, it is a big thing for a backward leader from the Hindi heartland to be honored with this honour. Ever since Narendra Modi came to power, backward castes have been demanding Bharat Ratna for many of their heroes. Among the Dalits, Baba Saheb Ambedkar received this honor posthumously in 1990. Most of the 48 heroes who have received this honor so far have been from the upper caste. Till now, a total of six Prime Ministers have also received this honour.
Among the Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi received this honor while in office, while Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi received it posthumously and Morarji Desai and Atal Bihari Vajpayee after leaving the post. Most of the celebrities received this honor after their death. Karpoori Thakur died in 1988 and he received this honor 36 years after his death. Karpoori Thakur’s son and JDU Rajya Sabha MP Ramnath Thakur says that 36 years after his death, his father Karpoori ji has received this highest honor of the country. This is a matter of happiness. All parties have claimed Karpuri ji’s social justice. But everyone forgot the pioneer of social justice.
PM dashes Lalu-Nitish’s hopes
Narendra Modi’s image has now become such among the backward people that in the coming time the backward leaders with caste based mobilization will either join the BJP or they will disappear from politics. Nitish Kumar kept demanding, BJP even gave him Bharat Ratna. Now on what basis will leaders of backward castes like Nitish, Lalu etc. consolidate their votes? His last weapon has also been taken out of his hand. By organizing the Pran Pratistha Mahotsav of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22, Narendra Modi has left the Mandal parties completely alone. Modi has included the Mandal in his Kamandal by making people from backward castes sit on the seats in the Pran Pratistha ceremony.
Karpoori Thakur was the hero of backward castes
Karpuri was the hero of the backward castes who, with his simplicity, honesty and zeal to live, created such a stir in politics that it gave a new dimension to our parliamentary democracy. Before him, no backward leader had been able to reach such a high position in the Hindi belt. Karpuri was backward even among the backward. He belonged to the barber caste. At that time, farmer castes like Yadav, Koeri, Kurmi, Lodh Kachhi etc. were called intermediate castes. Even then barbers were backward. They did not own land and in a way they were a professional caste. They were considered as subjects of the farmer caste. Whatever the farmer gave when the crop was ripe, that was his, and the rest of the year the farmers had to look after only these land holdings.
Born on 24 January 1924
Despite being born in such a caste, Karpoori Thakur achieved a big position in Indian politics. That too at a time when Bihar was dominated by the upper castes. It is a matter of pride not only for Bihar but for the entire country to get this honor on the completion of 100 years of Karpoori Thakur. Karpoori Thakur, born on 24 January 1924, jumped into the freedom movement while studying in matriculation. He also spent two years in jail during the Quit India Movement of 1942. His inclination was towards socialism. He also stayed with Acharya Narendra Dev. Later he went with Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia. At that time, two disciples of Ramsevak Yadav and Madhu Limaye Lohia were leaders in the socialist politics of Bihar. Karpoori Thakur stayed with him.
Work done to bring backward castes into the mainstream
During his tenure as Chief Minister of Bihar twice in the 1980s, he did a lot of work to bring backward castes into the mainstream. In 1978, on the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission, he arranged for 12 percent reservation in government jobs for backward castes in the state. He included 79 backward castes in this list. Under this, backward castes were kept in the range of 4 percent and extremely backward castes in the range of 8 percent. “If you want rights, learn to fight, learn to stand at every step, if you want to live, learn to die.” His slogan was, “If you want rights, learn to fight, learn to stand at every step.” If you want to live, learn to die. He was always engaged in the promotion and spread of Hindi language. Backward castes were at the center of his ideology. That’s why he always remained busy in uniting them. To improve the condition of farmers, he was always concerned about the welfare of marginal farmers.
None of his disciples cared about the principles of this public hero who fought for the backward people all his life. No leader like Lalu Yadav, Ram Bilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar etc. did the politics of simplicity and continuous struggle for the welfare of the backward classes. All of them remained dependent on opportunity. His disciples always mobilized the backward classes for their personal interests. Despite being Chief Minister twice and Deputy Chief Minister once, Karpoori Thakur did not make any personal property. Even at the time of his death he did not even own a house. Due to his honesty, he had such influence among the public that he did not lose any election from 1952 till his death. Even when he was the Chief Minister, the doors of his residence were always open for the public.
No undue benefit was provided to the family
Karpoori Thakur never provided any undue benefit to his family while holding the post of Chief Minister. There are many types of stories prevalent about him. For example, when he was the Chief Minister, his father was asked by the village bullies to cut his beard and moustache. When he did not go, the bullies came to beat him with sticks. When the administration came to know, they immediately took action and caught the attackers. When the Chief Minister came to know about it, he got those attackers released. And said that the son of every poor and weak backward class is not the Chief Minister, hence this mentality has to be changed. Poor backward people will have to be brought into the mainstream. It is said about him that when he was the Chief Minister, his brother-in-law went to him asking for a job. Karpuri Thakur gave 50 rupees to his brother-in-law and said, go to the village and do your ancestral business. Until every backward class comes into the mainstream, I will not do anything just for my family.
BJP’s dent in Nitish’s vote bank
By giving Bharat Ratna to such a public hero of Bihar, the Modi government has built its reputation among the backward castes, such that now there is no other leader for the backward castes whom they can rank higher than Modi. This was the reason that the enthusiasm shown by the backward caste people during the consecration of Ram Lalla on January 22, led to the exclusion of all the leaders. Only Modi was looking like Modi. Seeing this wave of his unbroken popularity, Modi surprised everyone the next day. The barber caste to which Karpoori Thakur belonged has only two percent population in Bihar. It is among the most backward castes, whose population is 29 percent. Till now Nitish’s JDU used to get the votes of these castes. Now BJP has made a dent in this vote bank. This is a cautious move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in preparation for the Lok Sabha war of 2024.
