Patna: The Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) has unveiled the first part of its manifesto for the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections, promising a new legal framework and expanded reservations for the state’s Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs).
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav presented the manifesto, titled Ati Pishda Nyay Sankalp (Most Backward Classes Justice Pledge), at a programme in Patna on Wednesday. The manifesto outlines 10 key commitments aimed at improving representation and social justice for EBCs, including a 30% reservation in panchayats and local bodies and a law to prevent atrocities against EBCs, modelled on protections currently extended to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Addressing the gathering, Gandhi said that EBCs, Adivasis, OBCs, and Dalits in India continue to receive insufficient representation. “We want to give the EBCs a vision for the future,” he said, directly challenging the incumbent Nitish Kumar government. “If they have been in power in Bihar for 20 years, why haven’t they fulfilled the promises they made?”
Among the manifesto’s key proposals are increasing EBC reservations from 20% to 30% in local bodies, providing land to landless families, enforcing reservations in private educational institutions and government contracts, and establishing a high-powered regulatory authority to oversee reservation policies. It also includes a commitment to send legislation increasing the 50% reservation cap to the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
Tejashwi Yadav highlighted the Grand Alliance’s earlier efforts during its 17-month tenure, claiming that proposals to raise the reservation limit to 70% and send it to the central government had been blocked. He criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), referring to them as “reservation thieves,” and invoked the legacy of Karpoori Thakur, who pioneered reservation for the underprivileged in Bihar.
The Patna event drew more than 100 EBC leaders, alongside senior Congress figures such as party president Mallikarjun Kharge, VIP supremo Mukesh Sahni, and other political dignitaries.
