Ahead of Bihar polls 'Yadavs' again raise demand for 'Ahir Regiment' in Indian Army

Apparently keeping the caste equations in the forthcoming Bihar assembly polls in mind, prominent leaders of the 'Yadav' community again raised demand for an 'Ahir' (yadav) regiment in the Indian Army.

These leaders, including the kin of senior politicians and film personalities, cited, what they termed as the ''supreme sacrifice'' made by the members of the 'Ahir' community in the Indo-China war in 1962 to justify their demand.

Former Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Akshoy Pratap Yadav's wife Raj Lakshmi Yadav took to the Twitter to demand and justify an 'Ahir' regiment in the Army.

''It is not casteism to demand Ahir regiment....there are many regiments in the Army which are named after castes like Rajput, Dogra, Jat, Gorkha etc,'' Raj Lakshmi, who is the daughter of RJD leader and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, said.

''Either disband all such regiments or give us Ahir regiment,'' she demanded.

Social media users also shared a video of Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav in which he was heard supporting the demand.

The demand for a regiment in the name of 'Ahir' community comes barely a few months before the crucial assembly elections in Bihar and is apparently aimed at garnering the support of the influential 'Yadav' voters, who account for around 14 per cent of the total electorate in Bihar.

Lalu Yadav had been successful in weaving the 'MY' (Muslim-Yadav) equation in successive Bihar polls to emerge victorious.

SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav had also made the demand in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and had also included it in his party's election manifesto.

The centre had earlier made it clear that it is not in favour of forming any new regiment in the army after any particular caste, community or religion.