Bihar Reservation: The caste census in Bihar and then the decision of 65 percent reservation made the state’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his party JDU the largest in the Lok Sabha in Bihar. However, now the decision of the Patna High Court to abolish Nitish Kumar’s 65 percent reservation is sure to give Nitish Kumar a big political setback. It is also certain that this decision of the High Court is going to cost Chief Minister Nitish Kumar very heavily for the assembly elections to be held in 2025.
BJP had opposed the caste census
When Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was not with the NDA but with the Mahagathbandhan, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was the Deputy Chief Minister in his government. Both of them together decided that there will be a caste census in Bihar. BJP opposed it. The matter went from the High Court to the Supreme Court, but Nitish-Tejashwi won and the caste census was done. Its figures also came and it was also made public. Then it was known that the total population of Bihar state is 13 crore 7 lakh.
In this, the share of Other Backward Classes i.e. OBC is 27.13 percent and the share of Extremely Backward Classes i.e. EBC is 36 percent. That is, the total share of backward classes is more than 63 percent. At the same time, the share of SC and ST is about 21 percent and the share of general category is 15 percent.
Reservation was increased in government jobs
Along with these figures, another figure also came out and this figure was the figure of government jobs. This figure made it clear that out of all the government jobs in Bihar, the maximum number of people in government jobs are from the general category of 15 percent, i.e. 6 lakh 41 thousand 681. On the other hand, the backward class which has a share of 65 percent in the population, has 6 lakh 21 thousand 481 jobs. That means the population of 51 percent has more jobs and the population of 65 percent has less jobs.
After this, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar played another bet and decided that now the total reservation in Bihar will not be 50 percent, but 65 percent. Nitish Kumar got the proposal passed from the cabinet that the reservation which was 30 percent in Bihar till now, including backward and extremely backward, will be increased to 43 percent. The reservation of 16 percent for Scheduled Castes will be increased to 20 percent and the reservation of Scheduled Tribes which was 1 percent, will be increased to 2 percent. That is, the total reservation will be 65 percent. The remaining 10 percent reservation for EWS will remain. That is, the total reservation in Bihar will be 75 percent. The gazette notification of this decision was also done on 21 November 2023.
Nitish Kumar benefited from the reservation model
This decision of Nitish Kumar was opposed and the matter reached Patna High Court. There the hearing started in the bench of Chief Justice KV Chandran. After hearing Gaurav Kumar and other petitioners, Patna High Court reserved the decision on 11 March.
During this period, Nitish Kumar gathered a lot of votes in the Lok Sabha through his reservation model. The party gathered so many votes that his party became the largest party in the Lok Sabha in Bihar and it became so big that now Narendra Modi desperately needs Nitish Kumar to remain on the post of Prime Minister, but when everything was over.
Nitish Kumar also got the benefit. His party also got the benefit. The election results have also come. Narendra Modi He also became the Prime Minister for the third time. When Nitish Kumar joined this government, on 20 June, the Chief Justice’s bench in Patna High Court cancelled Nitish Kumar’s decision and in its decision, the bench of Chief Justice KV Chandran of Patna High Court based its decision on the same Indira Sahni case, which is a precedent for reservation in the country.
The limit of reservation in the country will remain less than 50%- Supreme Court
In the Indira Sahni case, the Supreme Court had made it clear that the limit of reservation in the country will be less than 50 percent. Then the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that reservation of more than 50 percent is a violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. Apart from this, Maratha reservation of Maharashtra was also made the basis, in which the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Maharashtra government and cancelled the Maratha reservation.
On the basis of these two cases, the 65 percent reservation of Bihar government has also been abolished and now the same old 50 percent reservation will remain in Bihar. Yes, there is one more thing in this that the 10 percent reservation given to EWS will continue, because the Supreme Court has given a separate decision on this.
Patna High Court overturned the decision of Nitish Kumar
In such a situation, the question is what will happen to Nitish Kumar now? Because when Nitish Kumar took this decision, RJD was with him. Tejashwi Yadav was with him, but now the court has overturned Nitish’s decision. Apart from that, Tejashwi Yadav and his party are in the opposition and in such a situation, there are assembly elections in Bihar next year.
The data of caste census has made every section of Bihar realize its political power. In such a situation, this decision of the High Court is going to be very heavy for Nitish Kumar’s politics. Yes, if Nitish Kumar, who takes every step very cautiously to save his political ground, comes up with a new move, then it will be discussed separately.
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