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The litmus test for Yadav's government: 1995 elections

Nitish Kumar (centre) with Jyotiraditya Scindia (left) and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath (Right). Kumar was a member of Janata Dal of Lalu Yadav who broke away to form his own Samata Party which was supported by the middle peasant castes like Koeri and Kurmi. The party was formed as a reaction to Yadav caste dominance in Janata Dal and sidelining of other significant backward castes.

The 1995 elections in Bihar witnessed complete marginalisation of the forward castes from the political scenario of Bihar. Of the two chief rival fronts contesting in the elections viz. Janata Dal and its alliance and Samta Party, the former were led by Yadavs and the latter by the leaders of Koeri and Kurmi community under the leadership of Lalu's former partner, Nitish Kumar. The pre-election scenario was of confusion over alliance and partnership with the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party contesting individually while the Samata Party was aligned only to the CPI (ML). The Janata Dal under Lalu was aligned with its traditional partners like Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI and CPM. The upper castes, whose marginalisation was owed to the poor support base of the Congress, were not able to decide their course as the other parties which enjoyed their support were not able to make any inroads among the voters.

The election campaign of Janata Dal was primarily based on charging the Samta Party with the accusations of acting as a proxy for the upper castes in the name of attacking the casteist politics of Lalu Yadav. The result of the election surprised some, with Janata Dal getting 166 out of 324 seats in Bihar Legislative Assembly pushing the Congress to third position with 29 seats. The BJP was able to get 41 seats but it was still far from becoming a potential claimant of power in the state. It was gauged that in the name of development, nothing more could be done during Lalu's rule during 1990–95, except building of some houses under Indira Awas Yojna for the downtrodden communities like Musahars. However, still the numerically strong illiterate and downtrodden castes voted en masse for Janata Dal and Lalu, as for the first time they voted independently. The Yadavs voted for Janata Dal as they wanted a firm control over power gained after years of long struggle while the Muslim voted for Lalu as they found a hero in him after the arrest of Lal Krishna Advani in Samastipur during his famous Ram Rath Yatra. By and large Lalu Prasad garnered support from the largest section of society.

L.K Advani (left) with the former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Lee Hsien Loong.

Emergence as the leader of plebeians

During his Chief Ministerial period, Yadav never tried to emulate the erstwhile elite chief ministers. He took part in the public festivals and popularised his famous Kurta far Holi (cloth tearing holi). On this occasion his invitees and the media persons would reach his house shouting: Kaha Chhupal hai Lalu Sala (Where is the bloody Lalu hiding?). Yadav also responded in a similar abusive tone. The vulgar songs were also played on the occasion. Besides this, he never hesitated in calling himself as a son of poor Goala (herder). During his public celebration of Holi festival, he used to play the Dhol himself and dance on the beat of Jogira song. Yadav's rallies were called railla, a symbol of masculinity. Those participating in these rallies were supposed to carry a lathi, a robust stick which was both the symbol of "masculinity" as well as the chief weapon of a "herder" who used it to manage his cows. The drinking of Bhang, a natural liquor and sitting the whole night to watch the Launda dance (Dance of a Eunuch acting as a woman) made him popular among rural Biharis but all of these obscene activities of a Chief Minister irritated the middle class sensibilities. According to Ashwini Kumar:

An astute mix of lower caste with minority politics therefore helped Lalu Yadav to establish his hold over the political scenario in Bihar. This marked the beginning of, what came to be known as 'Total politics' in which the identity of caste, class and religion came to be manipulated and exploited by the new state elite to retain and remain in power forever. As opposed to the traditional Congress-centric secular politics, the new secular politics of Lalu Yadav was non Brahmanical, vernacular and popular.

Forward-backward confrontation and caste wars

See also: Mandal Commission protests of 1990

Pappu Yadav (left), the former associate of Lalu Yadav and a former Member of Parliament from the Madhepura. He was the leader of warring faction which was in gunfight with the gang of Anand Mohan Singh. Yadav was also allegedly involved in the murder of Ajit Sarkar, a former Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly.

The anti-Mandal stir of 1990 provided Lalu another opportunity to strengthen the muscle power of the backward castes. Though the anti-Mandal, agitation was stirring up all over country, its impact on Bihar was most noteworthy given the history of caste wars in the state over the issue of reservation. In central and north Bihar respectively, the Bhumihar and Rajput were leading the protest against quotas which were brewing the state's crime. Lalu aggressively enforced the quotas and polarised especially the strong groups among backwards. Over the issue of reservation, the criminal politician Anand Mohan Singh took anti-quota stand and formed his Samajwadi Krantikari Sena to crush the supporters of Mandal Commission's recommendations. Pappu Yadav, another criminal politician and a close associate of Lalu challenged the Singh's gang with his Mandal Sena. Both militias confronted each other and exchanged bullets on occasions. The Yadav-Singh confrontation proved that the backwards couldn't be suppressed by the violence. Moreover, the anti-mandal stir gave a rare opportunity to Yadav to hasten the process of marginalisation of the upper caste as he blamed the upper-caste-dominated administration to be the real cause of the ills of the society and frequently removed upper-caste officials and bureaucrats from important positions.

Yet another gang war born out of the forward-backward confrontation in Bihar was the Brij Bihari Prasad-Munna Shukla tussle. Prasad had been a powerful minister and a close to Yadav was leading a gunfight against the Chhotan Shukla gang. Both Chhotan Shukla and his brother Munna Shukla were leaders of budding Bihar People's Party of Anand Mohan Singh. Shukla belonged to Bhumihar community while Prasad was an upper OBC Bania. In December 1994, according to media reports, Chhotan Shukla was shot dead along with some of his followers. It was reported that, henchmen of Brij Bihari Prasad were allegedly involved in the assassination. After few days on the funeral procession of Shukla, which was joined by Anand Mohan Singh and his wife Lovely Anand, the angry mob allegedly killed Gopalganj District Magistrate, G. Krishnaiah, when he was trying to control the furious mourners. According to the Outlook magazine, the Dalit background of Krishnaiah was the reason which triggered his assassination as he represented the metamorphosis of Bihari society under Yadav's rule, something which was unpleasant for the upper-castes. In connection with this case, Anand Mohan Singh and his wife Lovely Anand were chargesheeted along with 38 others. A few days later, Brij Bihari Prasad was also assassinated by the unknown assailants at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences. Lalu Prasad was quick to set up a high powered committee for inquiring into the case.

Background

In 1989, in the 9th General election to the Lok Sabha, the Janata Dal emerged as a serious challenge to the Indian National Congress party at the central level. The rise of Janata Dal also affected the state politics of Bihar which was dominated by the upper castes for long who were controlling the Congress firmly in the state, a charge disputed by some scholars. The Janata Dal was composed of the three different wings which drew its strength from different classes of society. The first wing was under the leadership of Chandra Shekhar, who had reached out to the other Socialists and also to one splinter group under Morarji Desai. The second faction consisted of some of the old congressmen including Arun Nehru and former Defence Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh. The third group drew its support from backward castes and middle peasantry, led by Charan Singh. Although Charan Singh was leader of this faction, the actual leadership emerged after his death under the new generation of politicians like Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was a product of student politics of the 1970s.

Early life and politics

See also: Politics of Bihar

Lalu Prasad Yadav was born in Phulwaria in a landless cultivator family. They were at the lower end of feudal system and faced several restrictions. At the age of six years, he had to leave his village to live with his uncle who was a milkman at Bihar Veterinary College. Fortunately, he was admitted in school and later inducted into B.N college, Patna University from where he entered into student politics. Yadav was appointed as first OBC president of Patna University student union in 1967. In 1974, he was appointed as the head of the Bihar student agitation committee which led the protest against Congress led government of state during the Bihar Movement under the mentorship of Jay Prakash Narayan. According to Seyed Hossein Zarhani, throughout his leadership period in Patna University, his image was of a popular backward caste leader who fought against upper-caste dominance.

In 1975, as an activist of the campaign against Indira Gandhi, he was arrested and after the end of National Emergency, he was elected as Member of Parliament in 1977 from Chhapra constituency on the ticket of Janata Party. In 1980 and 1989 state assembly elections, Yadav was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly from Sonepur. He was the successor of Karpoori Thakur as the leader of opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly who finally assumed the post of Chief Minister in 1990. Yadav's appointment as Chief Minister changed the socio-political profile of the state and in the coming years he emerged as undisputed leader in the Bihar who controlled the politics of the state earlier himself and later through his wife, Rabri Devi.

Congress regime and anarchism

See also: List of massacres in Bihar and Indian National Congress

Jeffrey Witsoe, while examining the political theory of Ernesto Laclau, classifies Yadav's rule as a different form of "populism". It was different from those of Garibi Hatao (poverty alleviation) drive of Indira Gandhi, because it was not directed towards meeting the demands of categories of people through the state machinery completely in the hands of elite. Yadav's theorization of "populism" created a sharp divide between the people on the basis of their identity which was tied up with the caste. His tenure primarily showed the way popular democracy could be leveraged as the "agent of change". The pre-Janata Dal period under Congress rule saw the caste as well as class conflicts in the agrarian society. The landless labourers primarily belonging to Scheduled Castes and from a section of the middle peasantry were confronting the landlords and upper backward caste led militias. The former were supported by the communists, while the latter found support in state machinery which was dominated till then by the "elite" or the upper castes. The Congress regime in the state was unable to feel the heat of change and growing discontent, hence lacked the vision to provide a safety valve to the entire system through conciliatory measures in the favour of revolutionaries. Instead of conciliation and mediation, the upper-caste lobby within Congress reacted by siding with the landlords and forcibly repressing all the forces that challenged their dominance. According to Witsoe:

"The people- the agent of popular sovereignty- was interpreted by the leaders of socialist and backward caste movement in the 'caste term'. The result was discursive division between "backward caste majority" and "forward caste system. The construction of this backward caste identity involved "a chain of equivalence" composed of individual caste identities in the late colonial period (Yadav, Koeri, Lohar etc.) each of which was its own hagemonic project connected with specific caste networks and territorial interests, but which were tied together with the common aim of displacing a larger upper-caste hagemony.

"Casteism", which is often identified in Bihar with the rule of Yadav was not a consequence of Janata Dal's rule as the predecessors of Lalu also invoked caste consciousness in the society by promoting the social group from which they belonged. Jagannath Mishra, who assumed power after the fall of Abdul Ghafoor was recorded to have patronised the Forward Castes and the Harijans in his government with 40% of the ministers in his cabinet hailing from Forward Castes. He cultivated a social coalition of Brahmins, Dalits and Muslim and checked the political ascendency of the backwards as noticed by Frankel. Indeed, it was Mishra's rule in which crime and politics became inseparable and several contemporary observers notes that, "politics has become a game of personal gains and loss." Though, he took populist measures like distribution of surplus land over ceiling laws to Scheduled Castes, his tenure is perceived as highly corrupt and repressive. Mishra also revoked the recommendation of Mungeri Lal commission's report which provided reservation for backward castes.

In an interview with ThePrint, the former Chief Secretary of Bihar, VK Dubey admitted that the caste has always influenced the administration in Bihar right from the time of Shri Krishna Sinha when half of the doctors in Bihar's medical colleges belonged to his own Bhumihar caste. The later Chief Ministers like KB Sahay also patronised the bureaucrats of their own castes.

Yadav followed the footsteps of his predecessors and Janta Dal under him indicated that it is the only party which is prepared to keep the backwards at the centre of the administration and after assuming power Lalu Yadav's government transferred 12 out of 13 Divisional Commissioners and 250 out of 324 Returning Officers in order to keep lower-caste people at the helm of all affairs at the local level. Many OBC bureaucrats were brought to the main departments from the sidelines and were given key position such as the strategic posts of District Magistrates and Deputy Divisional Commissioners to the extent that they became at least equivalent to the upper-castes. Three years after Yadav assumed power, many upper-caste officials attained transfer to the Centre to avoid the alleged humiliation and ill-treatment they suffered in Bihar. The Panchayati Raj Bill and the Patna University and Bihar University amendment bill passed by state legislature in 1993 also paved the way for the entry of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs in the state services in bulk. According to Christophe Jaffrelot:

Lalu Prasad Yadav has deliberately introduced a new style of politics, highlighting the rustic qualities of low castes of Bihar. For instance, he makes the point of speaking the Bhojpuri dialect or English with a strong Bhojpuri accent, to the horror of upper-classes. He was also adept at confronting them. One of his early slogans was, Bhurabal Hatao, (wipe out Bhumihar, Brahmin, Rajput and Lala (Kayasth)). A few month after he became Chief Minister, he utilised his control of state media to describe the opposition to the Mandal as the conspiracy of the upper-castes.

Law and order in Bihar: 1947-1990

Records of the time indicate that in the feudal society of Bihar, the Dalit and landless agricultural labourers suffered not only from the economic hardships but also the undignified practices like Dola Pratha practiced by the upper-caste groups notably, the Rajputs. Under this social practice, the newly wed bride of a Dalit Kamia (labourer) was forced to spend her night before the marriage with the feudal lord. Other sources also indicate that the Dalit women were also sexually available to the upper-caste landlords, as they worked in their fields for low wages. It is also believed that the frequent rapes of these women from the families of agricultural labourers were the cause behind the rise of naxalism in the Bhojpur region of Bihar, an area known for the prevalence of worst form of feudalism. With the passage of Bihar's land reform legislation, the benefit of which was shared by only a few upper-backward caste groups and the subsequent steps taken by the upper-castes to keep a substantial part of their holdings by manipulating the loopholes in the decree, elevated the naxal movements in the state. But, the class struggle was intriguing in the state, as the a section of upper-backwards were now to the side of landlords. The participation of middle peasantry or the upper backwards in the class war also remained evident making them involved in a two-front confrontation against both the Dalits, the supporters of naxalite movement as well as the upper-caste, who were admant to keep the status-quo maintained.

Besides the ongoing class struggle which became a caste war, the police excesses were also rampant in this period and atrocities by the police force on civilians were recorded. There are incidents of the police force abusing civilians, primarily from the lower castes. There are also incidences in which due to caste affiliation and similar factors, the police personnel have attacked the villages inhabited by the lower-castes after the private armies of the upper-caste landlords perpetrated the massacres during the 1970s.

Caste-based violence and police excesses in Bihar: 1947-1990

Incidents	Description	Trial
Pararia mass rape (1988)	In 1988, the police personnel landed upon a village inhabited by Yadav caste and raped women belonging to twenty families, they also abused an old man who resisted the rape of his daughter-in-law.
Belchhi massacre (1977)	The Kurmis in the Belchhi village slaughtered approximately thirty Dalits. The causes of the conflict were the issues of wage and rebellion of a Dalit leader Singhwa.
Munger, Chhotki Chhechani and Darmian incidents (1985–86)	On the question of land, the Rajputs and Yadavs were pitted against each other which led to attack and retaliation in separate events.
Parasbigha and Dohia incidents (1979–80)	In the retaliation of attack by the Bhumihars on their village, Yadavs descended upon the village of Bhumihar caste and due to their inability to find the perpetrators raped the young girls.
Dalelchak-bhagora massacre (1987)	In the tenure of Bindeshwari Dubey, the MCC unit dominated by Yadavs massacred up to fifty Rajputs in the twin village of Dalelchak-bhagora.

First tenure (1990-95)

See also: Triveni Sangh

Lalu Prasad interacting with the students of M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, USA, in New Delhi.

In his regnal years, Yadav used to appeal his mass followers i.e. backward castes, the Muslims and the Harijans in a very different way. As explained by Kalyani Shankar, Yadav compared himself as well as his followers, the backwards with the "crow" while the elites were compared to the peacock and the parrot. Yadav lambasted the elites, the upper caste and explained that: "only a crow could understand the language of crow, and the rule of Lalu Yadav is the rule of backwards". The backward caste had sensed the power of democracy as early as the 1970s, but with the arrival of Lalu Yadav as Chief Minister their bid to power was consolidated. In the past only three upper castes namely Rajput, Bhumihar and Brahmin controlled the resources as well as politics of the state but with the time the three upper-backward castes viz. the Yadav, the Kurmi and the Koeri emerged as the main contenders of power. There was also a support to this new coalition from the Muslim who were disenchanted with Congress after the ghastly Bhagalpur massacre of 1989.

The massacre which happened during the tenure of Satyendra Narayan Singh, targeted mostly poor Muslims belonging to weaver community and Singh proved to be completely ineffective in dealing with the situation. The contemporary speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, Sadanand Singh quotes: "there was a linkage between Shilanayas (foundation ceremony of Ram Temple) at Ayodhya and the riots of 1989", both of which resulted in weaning of Congress's outreach among Muslims. The roots of both the incidents lies in communal polarisation of the Bihari people by the proponents of Ram Temple movement. Another important change witnessed during this time was increasing number of contestants to Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha from the backward castes as a result of growing assertiveness among them which began during the movement of Jay Prakash Narayan in the 1970s but went on increasing and reached its peak during the 1990s.

Though Muslim and Yadav formed the core supporters of Lalu, he made inroads into the votes of other backward castes through his decision to implement the Mandal Commission report after the Vishwanath Pratap Singh government at centre decided to bring it. The decision resulted in the polarisation of state into pro-reservation backwards and anti-reservation upper castes. Demonstrations, sectional strife, caste-based riots surfaced in the state when Lalu emerged as the saviour of the backward castes. On the one hand he consolidated his base among backwards by taking pro-backward measures while on the other hand he started building his personality cult. Numerous books were written upon him and the writers were patronised by the state government. But by 1993, Lalu had to face agitations from numerous groups like students, teachers, government employees and also from various caste groups.

In order to counter Lalu's hold over the backwards and to break his image as the sole leader of backward castes, numerous caste rallies were organised. These included Kushwaha rally in 1993 and Kurmi chetna rally, Dalit-Adivasi chetna rally in 1994. Most often, these rallies were supported by anti-Lalu political parties, who were bidding to destabilise his government by creating a rift between the aspirational backward castes. Meanwhile, Lalu undertook foreign tours to attract investment in Bihar in the wake of liberalisation. He also met Indian investors in Delhi and Bombay and hosted NRI conferences in order to revive the economy of the state.

The issue of reservation, a form of positive discrimination for the socially and educationally backward communities was decades old. Under the Karpoori Thakur's government in Bihar in 1977, the attempt to enforce the quota in government jobs and educational institutions was made but Thakur's decision took a backseat when the forward caste members of his own cabinet opposed the proposals. The upper-caste lobby surrounding Thakur advised the government to re-examine the issue on the basis of economic consideration as Ahirs, Kurmis and the Koeris, the upper strata of peasantry had made significant economic progress till then. The hurdle created by the upper caste led to polarisation of backward castes against the former. After the implementation of Mungeri Lal Commission's recommendations and implementation of reservation related provision, upper-caste youths staged large scale protest and violence occurred in various corners of state.

The most notorious incident took place in Belchhi, where landlords from the Kurmi caste brutally slaughtered eight Harijans. The upper-caste and the Dalits, both became disenchanted with the government and Karpoori Thakur was voted out of power. This significant event happened due to alignment of upper-caste and Dalit members of Bihar State Assembly together against the rising upper backward peasantry.

Era of identity politics

Mathew and Moore classified the steps taken by Yadav after assuming power by the terminology "politics of state incapacity". The quota for Other Backward Class and Extremely Backward class was increased from the earlier ceiling. The violation of rules regarding reservation was made a punishable offence and the statutes were passed to reserve 50% of the seats in the senate and syndicate of the universities. Apart from this, selection of most of the Vice Chancellors and the directors of the higher educational institutions was made overwhelmingly from the OBCs. In case of a dearth of qualified people from the OBCs to assume the position, government chose to keep the position vacant rather than appointing a person belonging to upper caste to it. This step transformed the nature and composition of the educational institutions which were monopolised by the forward caste till then. The three percent quota for economically weaker section irrespective of castes, which could have benefitted poor from the upper caste was also abolished.

Lalu Prasad with the U.S. Financial Services Industry Study Group delegation led by Mr. David Blair when they called on him in New Delhi.

The cooperative sector in the state was also dominated by the minority upper caste since the independence. The government under Lalu passed several statutes to bring them under the firm control of government. The dismantling exercise was also performed for some of the co-operatives but to the sharp contrast of this, Bihar State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (Comfed) prospered. The primary membership of these milk cooperatives was made up of the members of Yadav caste, who were traditionally herders and cattle rearers. Lalu Prasad also abolished the state tax on Toddy to the benefit of Pasi (caste) and proclaimed that the fisherman (Mallah) would have the right to fish from the river, earlier which depended upon the will of the village strongmen.

The Charwaha Schools, established for the children of the cattle herders drew widespread criticism from the political circles, with some blaming it to be a mockery of elementary education and a hub of third rated primary education. In the latter half of the 1990s, when Lalu was facing charges for his implicit involvement in the Fodder Scam, he was successful in convincing his core electorate, the backwards that the "system", which is controlled by the upper castes is hatching a conspiracy to finish him. The stringent action by the Chief Election Commissioner, the threat by the Bharatiya Janata Party to impose President rule in the state were all linked together to be a part of bigger conspiracy against him.

Lalu Prasad's governing style was a triumph of backward castes. The backwards or the OBCs were encouraged to assert themselves in the politics and in the local community relations often switching to violence, illegality and crime. The backwards were filled with new form of enthusiasm and the socio-political situation of the state in Yadav's tenure is explained by the political scientists as follows:

In a sense, "Bihar had democratically elected non-governance".

-Subrata K. Mitra

Democracy thrived but the governance collapsed.

-Walter Hauser

Confrontation with upper-caste dominated bureaucracy

The tenure of Yadav also witnessed emergence of wide drift between the Dalits, the Scheduled Caste and the forward caste who were earlier aligned together against the rising upper backward peasantry in political circles. A newly founded, armed militia Ranvir Sena of the Bhumihar caste was the prime reason behind this drift. The Sena had perpetrated ghastly massacres of the Scheduled Castes including those in Laxmanpur Bathe, where nearly 50 Dalits including women and children were murdered. Such an incident gave mileage to Yadav's politics as his slogan, "Vikas nahi samman chahiy" (we need dignity not development) served as guiding light for these capital scarce, downtrodden communities.

The retaliatory killings of the landlords by the naxalites also took place but these killings were less frequent than those of the past, due to weakening of the organisational structure of the erstwhile Naxal groups. In the past, many militants from the Koeri, Yadav and the Kurmi landed caste were also attracted to these armed groups. For instance, the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation drew its support largely from Koeri and Yadav caste but after the foundation of Rashtriya Janata Dal, the successor of Lalu's Janata Dal, the Koeri and Yadav militants were attracted to it being enamoured by the electoral politics. Similarly, according to a report of Asian Development Research Institute the Kurmi caste used to held sway in People's War group while Yadavs were dominant in Maoist Communist Centre. The infatuation of these castes towards democratic politics left a leadership vacuum in the naxal groups, which were now controlled from the top by leaders of upper castes while its local level workers belonged to Scheduled Castes.

Meanwhile, the massacres perpetrated by Ranvir Sena and the support of some of the Samata Party leaders to lift ban from it polarised Dalits toward Yadav's party. It also exposed to them to the weaknesses of Left and they were left with the sole choice to accept the leadership of Yadavs who formed the base of Rashtriya Janata Dal. Lalu also relied upon 'symbolism', to prove himself as the real leader of the backwards. In contrast to former leaders of the Congress, who while visiting any village, used to visit only the upper-caste inhabited hamlets. Yadav sidelined upper castes and used to visit only those regions inhabited by the backward castes and the SCs. In response to occasional demands for roads and physical infrastructure, Yadav explained to the masses that development of infrastructure would benefit the contractors, the rich and the capitalists and for them "dignity" is the real panacea.

A study done at the Jitwarpur village in the Araria district of Bihar explains the conception of "dignity" and what it meant for the lower castes. The 31% of the population of village belonged to Brahmin caste who exercised control over most of the orchards and productive land of the village. The upper OBCs were 5% and rest of the population was composed of the lower OBCs and the SCs. The Brahmin landlords prior to 1990 were also dominant politically. They used to exchange foul language and accused the lower castes working in their fields of being lazy and greedy. Sometimes, public humiliation and physical intimidation was also perpetrated against them but the lower castes were accustomed to it, as they depended for their livelihood on the lands of the Brahmins.

By the 1990, during the tenure of Yadav, it was impossible in a normal situation for the Brahmins to win even a mukhia election from the region and political power locally was passed into the hands of Backwards. A member of Mallah caste took over the post of mukhia. It became very difficult for the Brahmin landlords to abuse their workers on face by now, further they were helpless to watch a Mallah Mukhia hoisting the national flag on the occasion of Independence and Republic day. According to the villagers, once Yadav visited the village and told the crowd that:

Migrate to any part of country
wherever you find work
earn money
and when you come back dress well
and live with your heads held high. (Jeet-Jat se raho)

The visit of a Chief Minister to a SC hamlet was a surprising and unique experience for them.

The bureaucracy which is termed as the "steel frame of the government" was drastically undermined during the Yadav's rule. Because of the dominance of upper caste in the bureaucracy, and the lack of backward caste officers to be appointed to the important offices, Yadav had to rely upon existing officers only who had ferocious attitudes towards him. Hence, steps were taken to centralise the power of bureaucracy and subject it to the rigid control of democratically elected backward caste leaders. Many a times, public humiliation of the officers also took place. One positive aspect of this step was the consolidation of self confidence of the poor and vulnerable who were harassed earlier by the officialdom in the situations involving "conflict with law". The political leaders were more easily approachable by the poor than the officials and were also close to them. Hence, the poor person coming from the lower caste benefitted from the de-elitization of administration as they could now approach their leaders to deal with the administration, which were still under the control of elite.

It was reported that, many petitioners who visited chief minister for their pleas witnessed chief secretary of Bihar acting like a servant and serving the bowl for Yadav to spit Paan and Khaini which he was accustomed to. There also used to be arrangement for spitting bowl wherever Yadav visited, not only for him but for other Paan loving leaders of his party.

Surge in crime, criminal-politician nexus

Yadav's rule also resulted in marginalisation of upper caste in the high-value organised criminal activities which were monopolised in the erstwhile governments by the criminals belonging to upper castes. During 1990–95, the backward caste gangsters primarily belonging to Yadav and Bind (a subcaste of Mallah) converted many areas of Bihar into their crime capitals. These organised crimes like kidnapping, timber-logging, ransom-killing and vehicle theft could thrive under political patronage, which was enjoyed by the upper castes during Congress's regime. But with the advent of Janata Dal the patronage shifted to backward-caste criminals.

In most of the cases big merchants were the target and several incidents revealed the implicit involvement of the state machinery in the crime. In one of such incident which took place in 1995, India Today reported that the personal physician of Lalu Prasad was accosted by a gang of youths when he was driving to his workplace. He was thrown out and the criminals fled with his car. When the physician approached Chief Minister's residence, he saw his car parked in front of it. To his surprise, one of the culprits was also sitting in the drawing room. On his complaint, Yadav allegedly advised him to pay the youths a sum of 50,000 for the return of his car, which was followed by the physician.