Why are parties are fishing for Mallah vote

EBC vote equally key to INDIA and NDA

- ARCHIS MOHAN

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday jumped ina turbid Begusarai pond, swam almost half its length, and joined his party's youth leader Kanhaiya Kumarand Vikassheel Insaan Party’s (VIP’s) Mukesh Sahanito give a hand to fishermen to pull the fishing net out of water.

In other parts of Bihar, addressing public meetings in the past couple of days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have harped on the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s (NDAs) promise of providing an additional 4,500 “topup” from the Centre to farmers for aquaculture, ensuring that they receive 9,000 per annum ifthe alliance returns to power in the state.

According to the Bihar caste survey of 2023, the Mallah caste group, which depends on rowing boats and catching fish for its livelihood, comprises 2.6 per cent of the state’s population. Along with the Nishad, Bind, Manjhi, Kevat, and Turaha groups, which too rely on water bodies for survival, these communities account fora substantial 9.6 per cent of the population, and are classified as Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs).

‘Apart from fishing, these communities grow makhana. At least forthe past one year, not just Gandhi but Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and others, on their visits to Bihar, have waded into muddy waters to try their hand at sowing makhana seeds or catching fish. In this Assembly polls, the rival alliances of the NDA and INDIA bloc have courted the community like never before.