: Kushwahas exit may hurt Nitish as BJP goes fishing for JD-U weak links #IndiaNEWS #National <br>Upendra Kushwaha is one of those leaders who was aiming to inherit the legacy of Nitish Kumar

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Kushwahas exit may hurt Nitish as BJP goes fishing for JD-U weak links #IndiaNEWS #National
<br>Upendra Kushwaha is one of those leaders who was aiming to inherit the legacy of Nitish Kumar and lead the JD-U and Bihar. When Nitish Kumar refused to hand over the baton to him, he left the party and formed a new political outfit named the Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD).
Kushwaha blamed Nitish Kumar that the Lav-Kush equation which would give the post of chief minister to him, was being hurt due to his decision to promote RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as his political successor in Bihar.
When Upendra Kushwaha became a rebel, the JD-U leaders blamed the BJP. They said that it has written the screenplay in which Kushwaha plays the role of a rebel leader.
This seemed to be evident when Kushwaha was admitted to AIIMS Delhi and three top leaders of the BJP met him. A picture was also circulated in every social and frontline media platform. When Upendra Kushwaha left the JD-U and formed a new political party, BJP Bihar president Sanjay Jaiswal met him in Patna and appreciated his decision.
Now, the bigger question in the politics of Bihar is whether the Upendra Kushwaha factor would hurt the ruling JD-U and the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in the 2024 and 2025 polls or not, depending on leaders like Nitish Kumar to keep the Lav-Kush equation intact and have good coordination with the Yadavs.
In the last 30 years, the leaders of these three castes have ruled in Bihar and it was possible only when these three castes came together.
If we analyse the caste factors in Bihar, the upper castes have ruled the state for the maximum time post independence despite their numbers being much lower than these three Kurmi (Lav) Koiri (Kush or Kushwaha) and Yadav. These three forces had played a pivotal role in transferring power from the upper castes to the Other Backward Castes (OBC). Lalu Prasad Yadav emerged as the leader of the OBCs in 1990.
Though, the Bihar government is conducting a caste based census, it is estimated that Yadavs constitute 17% of the total population of Bihar while the Kushwahas are 13% and Kurmis 7%. Among these three castes, the Yadavs are less educated compared to the Kurmis and the Koiris. It has led to rivalry between the Yadavs and Lav-Kush.
Nitish Kumar, who belongs to the Awadhiya Kurmi, had a sour relationship with Lalu Prasad Yadav in the early 1990es. He participated in a Kurmi-Koiri rally in 1994 in Patna where he was given the name Lav-Kush community. Lav stands for Kurmi and Kush stands for Koiri or Kushwaha. The Lav-Kush community has a big rivalry with Yadavs in Bihar.
In 2003, Nitish Kumar made Upendra Kushwaha the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly during the Rabri Devi government.
When Nitish Kumar announced several times that Tejashwi Yadav will inherit his political legacy in Bihar, Upendra Kushwaha made an issue of it and became a rebel.

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