Remembering icons in the year of Bihar election

“Mujhe garv hai ki mai Chamar hu,” said Bindeshwar Ram, a Vikas Mitra and resident of Bihar’s Gaya district, at an event in Patna to commemorate the 647th birth anniversary of Sant Shiromani Ravidas, a 14th-century saint from the Chamar caste associated with the Bhakti movement and considered an icon of the Scheduled Castes. While the State Congress unit held an event with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi as the chief guest to celebrate the 130th birth anniversary of Jaglal Choudhary, a Dalit leader and freedom fighter, on February 5, RJD leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Yadav organised the ‘Teli Hunkar Rally’ on February 9 to pay tribute to Bhama Shah, an aide of Rajput ruler Maharana Pratap and icon of the Other Backward Classes. Countering Rahul’s outreach to Dalits, senior JD leader and Rural Works Minister Ashok Choudhary, a prominent Dalit face of the ruling party, said: “The Congress did not celebrate the birth anniversary of Jaglal Choudhary all these years, then why did it do so this year?” Observing birth and death anniversaries of iconic figures can sometimes be a caste-specific affair, with politicians from particular castes using these events to connect with their communities. ‘Vote bank politics in mind’ “Political parties hold different functions to celebrate the birth anniversary of the same icon in their own capacity.