Apparently eyeing the Other Backward Class (OBC) votes, the BJP in Bihar on Friday celebrated 2327 ^th  birth anniversary of Mauryan emperor Ashoka, who is said to have ruled most part of the Indian subcontinent between 268 BCE and 232 BCE.

Along with senior state BJP leaders, Bihar in-charge of the party Bhupendra Yadav, Deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya attended the function organised at Convention Centre of Gyan Bhawan in Patna. Earlier, the party had flagged off chariots to 10 districts of the State to make people aware about the importance of emperor Ashoka who first gave the concept of Akhand Bharat (undivided India). In the function on Friday too, the BJP leaders called for Akhand Bharat.

“Like king Ashoka, BJP too will strive for Akhand Bharat (united India)”, said union state home minister and BJP leader from Bihar, Nityanand Rai. Senior state BJP leader and party’s Rajya Sabha member too advocated for “Bharat Mahasangh”. “BJP’s imagination of united India is like European Union which was formed by 27 countries”, said Mr. Modi while adding, “ Lord Ram is with the BJP which has constructed Ram Mandir and where there is Ram, there is Luv-Kush (Koeri and Kushwaha caste)”.

The BJP first started organising the birth anniversary of the Mauryan King Ashoka in 2015. Though, there is a historical dispute over the date or the year of king Ashoka’s birth but BJP claimed it was April 8 and 2327 ^th birth anniversary of the emperor. For the last few years, king Ashoka has been used as a political mascot in Bihar politics and was projected as a symbol of OBC assertion and a national icon by different political parties.

“Earlier, the party had set off chariots with pre-recorded message on the importance of king Ashoka to 10 districts to make people aware about the Mauryan emperor who first gave the concept of Akhand Bharat”, said Ratnesh Kushwaha, BJP’s state working committee member and coordinator of the function.

The BJP chariots had moved in Nalanda, Vaishali, Nawada, Gaya and other districts where OBC Kushwaha has sizeable population. Along with Koeri, the OBC Kushwaha constitutes about nine percent of State’s population and politically known as core vote bank caste constituency of chief minister Nitish Kumar-led ruling party JD(U).

“Now, BJP wants to make inroad and grab that constituency from Nitish Kumar’s party by organising such celebrations of birth anniversary of Mauryan kind Ashoka”, said political analyst Ajay Kumar. The JD(U) too is likely to celebrate the emperor’s birth anniversary on Saturday (April 9).

Earlier, while celebrating the king’s 2323 ^rd birth anniversary in Patna, BJP had equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi with emperor Ashoka. “Like king Ashoka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also all-conquering Chakravarti”, said senior state BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. Party leader Surajnandan Kushwaha, who also teaches history at Guru Govind Singh College in Patna, said, “King Ashoka hailed from the Kushwaha community as many generations of people from the community have passed on this fact and they regard him (King Ashoka) as one of them”. “But, the Left-leaning historians have omitted this fact from history”, he added.

However, eminent historian Romila Thapar who has written a book on Mauryan empire, had earlier dismissed such arguments on Mauryan king’s birth as “baseless”. Hitendra Anupam, an assistant professor of history at Binoba Bhave University in Hazaribagh told Rashtra News that Ashoka’s epigraph are the only written version of events in his lifetime and they do not mention his date or year of birth. “Different historians have different views on the issue”, he quipped.

Recently, an interview by award winning Hindi writer Daya Prakash Sinha had courted controversy and fuelled differences between BJP and JD(U) by drawing “parallels between emperor Ashoka and Mughal King Aurangzeb”.

“Apart from his brothers, king Ashoka had also killed Buddhist monks”, said the Padmashri awarded author of Hindi play Samrat Ashoka.

Later, the JD(U) leaders had demanded withdrawal of Mr. Sinha’s award. Apparently, with an eye on OBC vote, the Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal filed an FIR against Mr. Sinha saying his playwright was spreading hatred. “To compare Samrat Ashoka with a cruel ruler like Aurangzeb is highly condemnable”, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said.