Bharat Ratna for late Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, January 23

President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, to late Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur on the eve of the socialist stalwart’s birth centenary.

OPED: PM Modi’s tribute to Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur

Challenged upper caste politics

• Born in 1924 in a community of barbers, one of the most backward sections of society
• Challenged upper caste politics by mooting idea of quota for backward classes
• Influential Lohiaite socialist, led anti-Cong politics; was Dy CM once, CM twice

Born in 1924 in a community of barbers, one of the most backward sections of society, Thakur rose to challenge Bihar’s upper caste/class politics by first mooting the idea of reservation for backward classes in government jobs.

An influential Lohiaite socialist who led anti-Congress politics in his times, Thakur went on to get elected as the Bihar CM by defeating Satyendra Narayan Singh, a veteran upper caste leader of the state.

Thakur was the Deputy CM once and became the Bihar CM twice — from December 1970 to June 1971 and again from June 1977 to April 1979 — endearing all sections gradually even as he pioneered social justice through radical reservation plans. Though the caste he represented made up just 1.6 per cent of the state’s population, Thakur dominated Bihar politics from 1950s to 1980s. He remained a Bihar MLA from 1952 until his death in February 1988, was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977 and lost only one election in life — the 1984 parliamentary polls.

Even after he was gone, Thakur’s legacy of affirmative action as a tool for political empowerment continued to influence Bihar politics with the state’s other tall leaders — Nitish Kumar of the JD (U) and Lalu Yadav of the RJD — continuing to claim Thakur’s legacy.

In fact, the caste census Bihar CM Nitish Kumar recently unveiled in Bihar builds on Thakur’s legacy of positive discrimination. It was Thakur who first constituted a commission that recommended OBC division into extremely backwards classes and backward classes. Thakur’s legacy of OBC reservation continues to impact Bihar’s politics and later inspired the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations in 1991.

With today’s move, the ruling BJP has thrown a spanner in the wheels of opposition INDIA bloc’s plans to make caste census its top LS poll issue in Bihar and nationally. “By honouring Karpoori Thakur, the government recognises his role as a symbol of democracy and social justice,” an official statement said.

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