The government's announcement of a Bharat Ratna for Karpoori Thakur strongly underlines the limitations of a singular approach in electoral politics. It is no coincidence that the announcement was made the very day after the consecration of the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. This also shows the pragmatism in the politics of the Narendra Modi-led BJP. This tells us that the BJP may not be so confident of repeating its Lok Sabha performance of 2019 when it won 17 of Bihar's 40 seats. The NDA along with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU) had won 39 seats.

In Bihar's electoral politics, any combo pairing up two out of the JDU, BJP, and RJD can sweep elections. The BJP has been on a sticky wicket ever since the Nitish Kumar-led party switched sides and formed a government with Lalu Yadav's RJD. The BJP is aware that the Nitish Kumar-led seven-party alliance is a formidable force. The Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur is a step to minimise any damage.

Karpoori Thakur, a strong follower of Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan, was known for his OBC politics. He belonged to the most backward community in the OBC (Other Backward Classes) category. He was a Nai (barber) by caste, which is not considered either powerful or dominant in the Hindu caste hierarchy and is much lower in the caste order. Yet, he emerged as a powerful leader and served as the Chief Minister twice - in 1970-1971 and later 1977-1979. It can be argued that he never got a full term. But even in his brief tenure, he formulated a reservation system for caste-ridden Bihar, marking nothing short of a revolutionary change. He emphasised that OBCs should not be categorised as one monolith and that the bloc suffered the same ills of a Hindu caste society - upper castes dominating the power structure and enjoying the fruits of power and the others left with a marginal share despite........

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