Bihar's ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) faced fresh internal turbulence on Monday, 31 August, as the political battle over sub-categorisation within Dalit reservations widened, with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Misa Bharti and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Lakhendra Paswan both training their fire on NDA partners Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi. The escalating war of words has laid bare deep fractures within Bihar's ruling coalition over the future of SC/ST reservation policy.

Misa Bharti's Challenge to NDA Leaders

Misa Bharti, RJD MP and daughter of former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, questioned the credibility of leaders who, she argued, had built their political careers on reserved constituencies while now calling for structural changes to the reservation framework. She issued a pointed challenge: if Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi wished to debate the system, they should first resign from their reserved seats and contest elections from general constituencies.

Bharti further alleged that NDA allies had grown politically dependent on the BJP and were operating under its directions. She specifically accused Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and Upendra Kushwaha of toeing the same line, framing the sub-categorisation push as a BJP-orchestrated move rather than a genuine Dalit welfare initiative.

The Fault Line: Sub-Categorisation vs. Status Quo

The dispute within the NDA has crystallised around two opposing positions. Jitan Ram Manjhi and his son, Bihar minister Santosh Kumar Suman, have advocated for sub-categorisation — a 'quota within a quota' — arguing that the most deprived communities within the Scheduled Caste umbrella receive a disproportionately small share of reservation benefits. They contend that targeted redistribution would correct historical inequities.

Chirag Paswan, leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), has taken the opposite stance, opposing any changes to the existing reservation structure and questioning proposals such as the introduction of a creamy layer within SC/ST quotas. The disagreement has played out publicly, marking an unusual display of dissent within a coalition government.

BJP's Lakhendra Paswan Weighs In

Senior BJP minister Lakhendra Paswan added another dimension to the row, directing a pointed question at both Chirag Paswan and Manjhi. Without explicitly endorsing either position, he asked how many people from their respective communities — beyond their immediate families — had actually benefited from their leadership. 'Leaders who claim to work for Dalit and Mahadalit communities should explain how many people outside their families have benefited from their efforts,' he said.

Lakhendra Paswan reiterated what he described as the BJP's core position on the issue, declaring: 'If there is BJP, there is reservation.' The statement, while ostensibly reassuring, stopped short of resolving the sub-categorisation debate within the alliance.

Why This Matters for Bihar Politics

Reservation has historically been one of the most electorally sensitive issues in Bihar, a state with a large Dalit and Mahadalit population. The public spat among NDA partners is particularly significant because it surfaces ahead of a politically charged period, with coalition arithmetic in the state already under scrutiny.

Notably, the Supreme Court of India's 2024 ruling permitting states to sub-categorise within SC/ST quotas has given fresh momentum to the debate, forcing political parties to stake out positions that were previously left ambiguous. The Bihar row is among the most visible manifestations of that post-verdict reckoning. With both ruling alliance members and opposition leaders now publicly staking out positions, the sub-categorisation question is fast becoming a defining fault line in Bihar's political landscape.