With Domicile Quota Demand, Prashant Kishor Weakens Nitish Kumar's Hold On Young Voters In Bihar

Recently, a youth parliament was organised in the Bapu Auditorium in Patna. Prashant Kishor, acclaimed poll strategist and founder of the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), addressed the youth of Bihar there.

During his address, Kishor raised the demand for a domicile policy in Bihar. He advocates for ensuring that Biharis should have first rights over jobs in the state.

Taking a jab at the Nitish Kumar government, Kishor said that Biharis are migrating to other states for jobs while the Bihar government is busy providing job opportunities to the youth of other states.

“Domicile policy is essential to prevent large-scale migration and address the unemployment crisis in Bihar,” said Kishor.

Domicile policy has been in contention for the last few years, especially in the wake of 2023 teachers’ recruitment by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).

In June 2023, the BPSC announced a large vacancy of 1.7 lakh teachers. Apart from Biharis, aspiring teachers from other states could also apply for nearly 50 per cent of these posts.

Chandrashekhar Yadav, then education minister in the Bihar cabinet, explained the rationale by stating that it was done to ensure a healthy competition that yields better teachers.

Additionally, the government not getting good teachers for mathematics and science in the aftermath of the reapplication of domicile policy in 2020 was also considered a factor in this decision.

Meanwhile, education department officials reasoned that it was because they were not getting enough applications for the posts since negative marking was discouraging local aspirants from applying.

Aspirants did not agree with any of these statements, and soon a statewide protest began in Bihar. Lakhs of tweets surfaced online, but the government did not kneel to these demands.

Between 2012 and 2019, Bihar’s teachers’ appointments were open to everyone in the country, and the policy is said to have served the interests of education in Bihar. The open job policy was removed in December 2020, only to be brought back in June 2023.

Politically, the Kumar government’s decision to open up teachers’ jobs for every Indian was interpreted as part of his attempt to emerge as the pan-India face of opposition against Narendra Modi in the 2024 general election.

Opposing the move, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi had termed it a "Tughlaqi decree." Prime Minister Modi said Yadav was disrespecting Bihari talent with his statement about Biharis not being able to fulfil the post of science and math teachers.

Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi, two current Union ministers from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), had also criticised the Kumar government for not prioritising Bihari youth in recruitment. Manjhi had even accused the government of indulging in corruption to recruit non-Biharis.

Now, the tables have turned. At the time of the change in rules, Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) [JD (U)] was in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, both of whom had supported the move.

Now that Kishor raises this demand in 2024, JD (U) is in the NDA with Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) [LJP (RV)] and Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).

Kishor’s demand is certain to grab the attention of youth — not just teaching aspirants but also other job seekers. For young voters, unemployment and migration are the main planks of his strategy. In almost every speech, Kishor talks about these problems and pins the blame on both Kumar and Lalu Yadav for them.

The wisdom to rake up this issue has come from his Jan Suraaj Yatra, in which young Biharis are playing a decisive role. The announcement of support for such an issue on such a large platform is certainly done to give it political colour.

With time, both the NDA and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive (INDI) Alliance will need to clarify their positions on it.

While the INDI Alliance openly supports domicile policy, for the NDA, it will be a challenge to maintain unity.

The brain behind opening up jobs for outsiders is believed to be that of Keshav Kumar Pathak, former additional chief secretary of the education department. Pathak is believed to be a no-nonsense man when it comes to efficiency and is also one of Kumar’s favourites.

This policy is also more constitutionally viable than domicile.

Except for rare circumstances, constitutional morality puts more emphasis on giving equal opportunity to each citizen in whichever state he or she likes. Amir Subhani, the then chief secretary to the government of Bihar, had also cited Article 16 as a justification for the removal of the domicile clause.

But it is also true that states like Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh have passed such laws, some of which could not sustain legal challenges.

For Bihar, the problem is balancing morality and pragmatism. The ever-rising unemployment and related migration trends demand preserving as many jobs as possible for locals. It will ensure that growth benefits trickle down to the locals.

As the demand for domicile policy gains momentum, it will be tough for Kumar to hold on to his current policy, especially in the backdrop of the 2025 assembly election.

It will be interesting to see whether Bihar will retain the policy of which Biharis were key beneficiaries, albeit in other states.