Bihar Elections: Will Mangani Lal Mandal Prove to be the RJD’s Trump Card in Winning Back the EBCs?

Patna: The anointment of veteran socialist leader Mangani Lal Mandal as the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Bihar president is part of the party’s well-crafted strategy to reclaim the support of the extremely backward classes (EBCs), who had largely shifted their loyalty to Nitish Kumar after he became the chief minister in 2005.

The EBCs – comprising numerous lower backward caste groups – are pivotal in Bihar’s political landscape, accounting for 36.1% of the state’s population, according to the caste survey conducted by the Nitish Kumar–Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan government in 2024.

With Assembly elections due in October-November this year, almost all parties in the state are scrambling to woo EBC voters.

Mangani Lal Mandal, a Dhanuk by caste, is widely regarded as the most credible EBC leader from the Kosi–Mithilanchal region of north Bihar. Like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, Mandal (76) began his political journey under the tutelage of Socialist patriarch Karpoori Thakur in the 1970s. While Lalu and Nitish rose to prominence at the state and national levels, Mandal focused on grassroots politics in his home region.

After Karpoori Thakur, Lalu emerged as the most formidable leader of the marginalised and minority communities, championing the politics of social justice. His position was bolstered by the implementation of the Mandal Commission report by the V.P. Singh government in the early 1990s. Lalu’s strong stance against Hindutva attracted minority communities – who make up nearly 17% of Bihar’s electorate – into the RJD fold.

This consolidation of backward classes and minorities propelled the RJD to a landslide victory in the 1995 Assembly elections, and the party maintained its dominance till the 2005 polls.

Split in the socialist camp

Over time, however, cracks emerged in the socialist fold, leading to the formation of three splinter groups: RJD led by Lalu, Janata Dal (United) led by Sharad Yadav, and the Samata Party led by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar. As the original Janata Dal fragmented, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), having suffered repeated defeats at Lalu’s hands, adopted social engineering strategies to bolster its base – successfully co-opting several Socialist leaders.

In the 1990s, the BJP inducted Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, a veteran Lohiaite Socialist leader from the Mithila region. He won the Madhubani Lok Sabha seat multiple times as a BJP nominee, before being succeeded by his son, Ashok Yadav, who won the seat on the party’s ticket in 2024.

While Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav joined the BJP, Mangani Lal Mandal shifted to the Janata Dal (United), led by Nitish Kumar, in 2004. Mandal had served three consecutive terms as a Member of the Bihar Legislative Council from 1986 onward, first as a Lok Dal and then as a Janata Dal nominee. He was also a cabinet minister in the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led government.

Nitish Kumar’s party sent Mandal to the Rajya Sabha in 2004. In 2009, he contested the Lok Sabha election from Jhanjharpur in the Mithila region. With both Hukumdeo and Mandal moving into the Opposition's camp, the RJD's grip weakened in Mithila – once its bastion.

Nitish Kumar had carved out a significant space among the EBCs by introducing substantial measures after 2005, such as increasing their quota in government services and enhancing their representation in local bodies. But with Nitish now losing political and administrative ground, the EBCs have become increasingly vulnerable.

As Nitish’s clout and aura wane, many EBC leaders find it hard to remain in his party, which now appears to be under the firm control of the BJP. Mandal’s recent return to the RJD is, in many ways, a homecoming into a party now functionally led by Tejashwi Yadav, who has taken multiple steps to expand its support base ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

Tejashwi Yadav’s new moves

Mandal, the sole nominee for the RJD’s Bihar president post, is expected to be formally declared elected at the party event on June 20, which will also re-elect Lalu Prasad Yadav as the RJD’s national president. However, the real power has shifted to Tejashwi, who has clearly emerged as the inheritor of his father’s political legacy.

Tejashwi consolidated his leadership by steering the RJD to become the single largest party in the 2020 Assembly elections with 79 MLAs, even when Lalu was incarcerated. But more importantly, he rejuvenated the party by focusing on core issues like unemployment, migration, irrigation, price rise, healthcare, and grassroots concerns.

With the RJD's traditional M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) base shrinking due to the defection of EBCs to Nitish’s camp, Tejashwi has moved strategically. He first brought in the Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) of Mukesh Sahni, an emerging leader of the Mallah (EBC) community. And now, with the support of Lalu and outgoing state RJD chief Jagadanand Singh, he has brought back Mangani Lal Mandal.

Looking to the youth, Tejashwi has pledged that, if elected, he will implement domicile laws to ensure 100% of state government jobs are reserved for Biharis. His earlier promise of 10 lakh jobs resonated in the 2020 elections. The new promise is likely to strike a chord with young voters grappling with record unemployment under BJP rule at both the state and central levels.

With Nitish Kumar in decline and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sheen fading, Bihar is poised for significant political churn at the grassroots level. The RJD’s induction of Mangani Lal Mandal as state president positions it strongly to reclaim the EBC vote, which now appears vulnerable and unanchored.

 Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author and media educator.

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