It is curtains down for the political career of Nitish Kumar, who was baptised into politics through the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in the 1970s in Bihar — a movement that was itself a fusion of two families of politics, the Sangh Parivar and the Janata Parivar. The JP movement marked the consolidation of OBC politics in the State, against the Congress dominance that mirrored, and entrenched, upper-caste social hegemony.
OBC politics in Bihar has gone through numerous churns over the last century. Three communities — Yadavs, Kurmi and Koeri — helmed the challenge to upper-caste hegemony in the State. Mr. Kumar is a Kurmi. After playing second fiddle to Lalu Prasad Yadav within the Janata Parivar for many years, Mr. Kumar broke away to found the Samata Party in 1994 — which later transitioned into the Janata Dal (United). After being in the saddle for 20 years as Chief Minister, he is now set to enter the Rajya Sabha.
