Why Dularchand Yadav's murder has become a flashpoint of Bihar polls

Just days ahead of the first phase of the Assembly elections in Bihar, a political murder in Mokama on the outskirts of Patna, the state’s capital, has ignited tempers not only in and around the place but also in the adjoining districts. Riot police personnel were deployed at the sub-district hospital in Barh, where the body of Dularchand Yadav (76), who was shot dead and allegedly crushed under a vehicle on Thursday (October 30), was brought.

Local people, mostly from the influential Yadav community, who had gathered at the hospital to take the body, were told that a post-mortem of the body of the deceased was underway as the authorities bided their time to ensure that the situation did not worsen.

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Elections will take place in Mokama during the first phase, which is on November 6.

Bihar's 'Taal ka badshah'

Dularchand, who touted himself as the president of All India Yadav Sangh and was called “netaji” (the leader) locally, was known to be a wily politician. In the 1990s, he would call himself Bihar's “taal ka badshah” (king of the wetland belt). Remembering how he used to put his stature in comparison with Lalu Prasad Yadav, one of Bihar’s dominant politicians in those days, Rambriksh Yadav, Dularchand’s childhood friend and neighbour at his native Tar Tar village in the interiors of Mokama, said, “He would say: ‘Lalu Bihar ka badshah hain, aur mein taal ka’ (while Lalu Prasad is the king of Bihar, I am that of the wetland belt).”

Dularchand tried his luck in the state's electoral politics both in the 1990s and 2010s, when he contested elections, first (1995) as an Independent and next time (2010) on the ticket of the Janata Dal (Secular) but lost on both occasions. His acquaintances at Tar Tar remember the man more as a “manager” who could “engineer” winning numbers in the state’s intricate electoral politics. It was perhaps because of this skill of his that Dularchand caught the eyes of Nitish Kumar, the state’s incumbent chief minister and the supremo of the Janata Dal (United) of JD(U), who sought his “acumen” during his Lok Sabha campaign from his former Barh parliamentary seat in the 1990s.

Dularchand's death and caste arithmetic

This year, the slain leader was working for Piyush Priyadarshi, who is contesting on behalf of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), which is making its electoral debut, from Mokama. The constituency has been in the limelight as it symbolises Bihar’s “bahubali” (strong-armed) politics involving personal fiefdoms and raw muscle power, and Dularchand’s death has turned it into a key electoral flashpoint.

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The Mokama constituency has been dominated for decades now by strongman Anant Singh, who is accused in more than two dozen criminal cases, and has won from this seat irrespective of the party he represented or even as an Independent since 2005. While he was disqualified as an MLA in 2022 following his conviction in a case related to the recovery of arms and ammunition from his residence, his wife Nilam Devi was elected in the by-poll the same year. This year, Anant is back to contest from Mokama on the ticket of the ruling JD(U).

Anant feared JSP eating into his votes?

Those close to Dularchand believe that he expected the JSP candidate to “eat away a major chunk” of Anant’s extremely backward caste (EBC) vote-bank. Mokama has more than 50 villages that are inhabited by a significant population of the Dhanuk (EBC) community. Piyush himself is a member of the same community. Mokama has around 2.7 lakh voters and is dominated by castes such as Bhumihars, Yadavs, Dhanuk, Mahto/Koeri/Kurmi and also some percentage of Muslims. For the people of Tar Tar, the Yadav-Dhanuk combination made the JSP candidate appear as an “enemy” for Anant.

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While the JD(U) candidate's long winning streak from Mokama has been shaped by the support of the Bhumihar or the landed upper-caste, he faces a challenge this time from his rivals Piyush and Veena Devi, wife of another local strongman Surajbhan Singh, who also hails from the Bhumihar caste and is known to be a long-time foe of Anant. The origin of the rivalry could be dated back to the 2000 election, the last in undivided Bihar, when Surajbhan defeated his mentor and former state minister Dilip Singh, who was the elder brother of Anant.

In this election, Surajbhan’s wife Veena Devi will challenge Anant as Surajbhan himself is debarred due to his conviction in a murder case.

Was Dularchand trying to make it easy for RJD?

There is also another angle to the story. According to Rambriksh and Krishna Yadav, another childhood friend of Dularchand, the late leader was always “Lalu’s man” who was after a “political move” to ensure the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) wins from Mokama.

“There was an understanding that after winning the seat, Piyush would join the RJD. Also, after making a sizeable cut into the EBC vote share through Piyush, he wanted Surajbhan’s wife Veena, contesting on the RJD's ticket, to win the seat,” the elderly men told The Federal.

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The undercurrents culminated on Thursday when Anant arrived in Tar Tar for campaigning. Piyush and Dularchand were also scheduled to do their campaigning at the same place. A potential disaster was not far, and soon after Anant left, a commotion was heard. Local people rushed to the spot to see the supporters of the two opponents — Anant and Piyush — coming face to face on a narrow road between two local villages — Basawan Chak and Khushal Chak. According to some villagers, initial altercations between people from both sides in a charged atmosphere might have acted as a trigger.

Dularchand crushed under wheels, say supporters

Dularchand’s supporters claimed outside the hospital in Barh that he sustained “three bullets in the lower part” of the body, with one of them having pierced his groin area. They also alleged that the leader was crushed under a vehicle and accused Anant of the murder.

One of the supporters, Sugriv Kumar Yadav, told this publication that the actual target was Piyush, and Dularchand tried to thwart the plan. A senior police officer from Patna Rural confirmed to The Federal that while a bullet had created an incision in one foot of the deceased, it was being probed whether Dularchand was crushed under the vehicle or bumped.

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The police registered first information reports (FIRs) against five accused, including Anant and his two nephews — Ranvir and Karamvir — based on the complaint by Dularchand’s family. The senior officer that The Federal spoke with also said a counter FIR had also been filed from Anant’s side, in which it was alleged that “their men have also received serious injuries”.

Bihar's 'lawlessness' back in focus

The Mokama incident proved that the worst has happened in the land of the “bahubalis“. While it has aggrieved the Yadav community with many saying it has now become a “prestige battle” for them, it has also shifted the narrative of education, health and development towards “lawlessness under Nitish Kumar”.

Dularchand’s death has brought into focus constituencies adjacent to Mokama. Besides Patna district where it is located, the murder is also expected to leave an impact in several other places of the state, including Barh, Bakhtiyarpur, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Begusarai, Munger, among others.

Dularchand turns into Yadav hero

There are already efforts to make a martyr out of Dularchand, as many in Barh have been claiming that he sacrificed his life to save the Dhanuk candidate, Piyush. “Only a Yadav can put his life at risk to save one,” they told The Federal.

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Dularchand’s death would push factors such as education and development to the back burner even more in Mokama, a place where people are more into farming and cattle-rearing. Only one person, Moti Yadav, has attained a law degree and left Tar Tar and now lives in Barh town after becoming an advocate. What is referred to as the village’s only decent house belongs to Madhusudan Yadav, nephew of Dularchand, who now runs a dairy from a place that was once the house of the late leader. Dularchand himself owned a sizeable property in Barh town after his fortunes changed for the better.

Political fallout of Dularchand’s death

The Opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ or Grand Alliance has slammed the state’s Nitish-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over the killing, with its chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav taking a veiled dig at the administration, saying “with the killing, it has become clear who is protecting the ‘goondas’ (criminals)”.

The Mokama episode has given the RJD the counter-ammunition against the NDA government, which has often accused the Opposition party of unleashing “jungle raj” in Bihar when it was in power. CM Nitish even mentioned it in the video message released on Saturday (November 1), seeking a fresh mandate.

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Dipankar Bhattacharya, of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, another ally of the Opposition alliance, also highlighted “lawlessness” under the current government, while speaking on the Dularchand incident.

Mokama murder puts NDA in a spot

The murder in Mokama, which is located less than 100 kilometres from Bihar’s capital, strikes hard against the NDA’s claims of making the state crime-free. The ruling coalition’s concerted bid to remind the people of Bihar of Lalu Prasad’s ‘jungle raj’ has taken a beating, all the more since the alleged perpetrators of the crime in Mokama were supporters of Anant, a tainted don who is contesting on the ticket of none other than the chief minister’s party.

The death of Dularchand also exposes the caste fault lines ahead of the crucial polling. While the deceased belonged to the backward Yadav community and he lost his life while campaigning for a candidate who hails from the extremely backward community (Dhanuk); and the accused are supporters of the forward caste (Bhumihar) strongman, the Grand Alliance has now found a welcome opportunity.

Courting the backward and EBCs ahead of this election, it is now sending a message to the people from these social groups that the JD(U)’s continuing support for Anant exposes what it alleges as the NDA's true face, that celebrates caste oppression.

As mentioned earlier, the RJD would also reap benefits from the perception that Dularchand gave his life to shield an EBC candidate. The state’s major Opposition party would not mind its supporters, especially the Yadav community that constitutes more than 14 per cent of Bihar’s population, feeling convinced about the late leader’s perceived bravery.

The forward caste's oppression narrative

The Opposition parties are also trying to build a narrative that Thursday’s murder is not just another crime but a stark reminder of the atrocities that the backward castes faced at the hands of forward castes before Lalu Prasad rose to upend them.

In the districts of Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Nalanda, Munger and Sheikhpura, which either share a border with the Mokama constituency or where both Bhumihars and Yadavs form a sizeable chunk of the population, the case could revive the former chief minister’s electoral axis that pitted the backwards against Bhumihars, despite the irony that the RJD itself is also relying heavily on Bhumihar candidates this time. The choice of Veena Devi to challenge Anant in Mokama itself is a glaring example.

That the NDA was feeling the pressure after the Mokama murder could be sensed from the fact that its manifesto-releasing event on Friday (October 31) was concluded in just 26 seconds to ensure that none of its leaders, including CM Nitish, would have to respond to disturbing questions on the state’s law-and-order problem, something the NDA claimed to have buried happily.