In Amit Shah's Bihar Report to RSS Chief, an Assurance on Quota Comment

New Delhi: Before the BJP's top 12 leaders met to discuss the crushing defeat in Bihar, party president Amit Shah today met Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, the BJP's ideological mentor.

Sources said Mr Shah presented to the RSS chief his assessment of the BJP's defeat at the hands of the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance and assured him that it was not his controversial remark on reservation just before the crucial election that led to the polarisation of backward caste votes against the party.

A significant contribution was made to the Grand Alliance's spectacular win on Sunday by Dalits and other backward castes, who benefit from affirmative action and constitute more than 50 per cent of Bihar's electorate.

Mohan Bhagwat had delivered what many saw as a turning point of the Bihar election when he had suggested a review of the county's reservation policy in September.

"Mohan Bhagwat's comment at this time, it filled the backward castes and Dalits with mistrust for the BJP. The comment really shook people to the core. In Bihar, people have struggled more against caste discrimination and social exploitation," a party lawmaker from Bihar, Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, said today.

BJP's ally Jitan Ram Manjhi, a prominent backward caste leader, said,"Mohan Bhagwat's reservation comment was not wrong, but election was not the right time to say it. Lalu ji convinced voters that the BJP would abolish reservation."

Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav had seized upon the RSS chief's comment, alleging that the BJP would scrap reservation in government jobs and colleges if it came to power in the state.

The BJP, which strategically tied up with three regional parties with backward caste support, scrambled to limit damage, assuring voters that it did not favour a review of quota.

Amit Shah, said sources, told Mr Bhagwat today that while Nitish and Lalu managed to turn the Bihar election into a "upper caste vs lower caste battle," the BJP was unable to present a credible backward leader.

It is being seen as an indirect admission that the party failed in its bid to present PM Modi, who was the face of the BJP's campaign, as a backward leader. The PM belongs to the Ghanchi caste, listed as an extreme backward caste in Gujarat.