Rahul Gandhi in Darbhanga: Who are the EBCs, and why they matter in Bihar politics

Indian Express

18-05-2025

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi earlier this week addressed an event in Bihar's Darbhanga, where he claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi was 'against the 90%' of India's population, referring to OBCs, EBCs, Dalits and minorities. This was part of Congress's bid to reach out to the backward communities, specially EBCs, in Bihar, ahead of the Assembly polls due in October-November.
The Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) have long been politically crucial in Bihar. While RJD's towering leader Lalu Prasad Yadav first realised their electoral importance, it is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has more assiduously — and more successfully — cultivated them as a votebank.
The creation of EBCs in Bihar goes back more than 50 years to Karpoori Thakur, the first Chief Minister of the state to come from an extremely backward community.
In 1971, Thakur as CM constituted the Mungeri Lal Commission to study the economic, social, educational, occupational, and government sector participation of backward castes in Bihar. The Commission submitted its report in February 1976. By that time, the Congress's Jagannath Mishra was in the Chief Minister's chair, and he did not take any action on the report.
The Mungeri Lal Commission, based on its study, identified 128 castes as backward in economic, social, occupational, and educational terms. These 128 castes were then divided into two categories — 34 castes were placed under the Backward Class category, and 94 castes were listed under the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) category.
When Karpoori Thakur became the Chief Minister of Bihar for the second time in 1977, he announced the implementation of the Mungeri Lal Commission's recommendations in October 1978. The recommendations included 8% reservation for Backward Classes, 12% for Extremely Backward Classes, 3% for women of all castes, and 3% for economically backward castes. However, the reservation based on economic criteria was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The report of the Mungeri Lal Commission created political awareness among the extremely backward castes in Bihar and enabled them to access the benefits of reservation. It also laid the foundation for a new political direction centered on their representation.
On October 2, 2023, the Bihar government released the results of a caste-based survey of the state, which revealed that 36% of the state's total population belongs to the EBC category, comprising a total of 112 castes. Among these, only four castes—Teli, Mallah, Kanu, and Dhanuk—have a population of more than 2%. Among Muslim castes, Julaha is the only one with a significant presence, constituting 3.5% of the population. Seven other castes—Nonia, Chandravanshi, Nai, Barhai, Dhuniya (Muslim), Kumhar, and Kunjra (Muslim)—each have a population of less than 2%.
Beyond these 12, none of the remaining 100 EBC castes has even a 1% share in the total population. These are the communities that are economically and socially extremely backward.
Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs to the Kurmi caste, which makes up 2.87% of the state's population—a relatively small number in the caste-dominated electoral politics of Bihar.
Despite participating in the 1995 Kurmi Chetna Rally, Nitish Kumar did not attempt to establish himself solely as the leader of one caste group. To counter the dominance of a strong leader like Lalu Prasad Yadav, he needed to build a broader caste coalition. He expanded the Luv-Kush alliance (the Kurmi-Koiri alliance: Kurmis are believed to have descended from Lord Ram's son Luv, and Koiris from Luv's twin Kush) of the OBCs by including the Dhanuk caste, which falls under the EBC category.
During his tenure as CM, Nitish has made a deliberate effort to attract the support of the EBCs by ensuring the benefits of education, reservation, and welfare schemes reach them. His approach has been largely successful. He added more castes to the EBC category beyond those listed by the Mungeri Lal Commission, increasing the number from 94 to 112. He also ensured their participation in government systems.
Nitish has launched many welfare schemes for the EBCs, such as the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme, Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme, the Chief Minister EBC Merit Scholarship Scheme, the Jannayak Karpoori Thakur Extremely Backward Classes Welfare Hostel Scheme, the Chief Minister Backward and EBC Skill Development Scheme, the Chief Minister EBC Civil Services Incentive Scheme, and the Chief Minister Backward and EBC Hostel Grant Scheme. He has also introduced loan provisions for economic development. To ensure the delivery of these benefits to the EBC community, officers have been appointed at the block and district levels.
Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (May 15) visited Darbhanga to attend the 'Shiksha aur Nyay Samvad' (Education and Justice Dialogue). There, he addressed the backward, extremely backward, Dalit-Mahadalit, and minority communities, advocating for reservations in private institutions.
Over the past few years, socialist politics across the country has weakened significantly. The political groups that once vocally raised the issue of the poor representation of backward communities in education, jobs, politics, and business have lost momentum.
The dominance of caste-based politics has diluted the ideological underpinnings of class-based political agendas. The political groups that traditionally spoke for the backward and extremely backward communities—and were long considered socialist—have lost their voice. In Bihar, even a towering figure like Lalu Prasad Yadav has seen his vote base shrink to mainly Yadavs and Muslims.
Apart from the simple logic of electoral arithmetic, the Congress under Rahul Gandhi also appears to be attempting to revive socialist politics in a new form, with a focus on the backward and extremely backward communities. Whether this strategy succeeds will be revealed in the test of upcoming elections.