The Mamata Banerjee government has set up the Dalit Bandhu Welfare and Development Board, the first such body to take care of the welfare of the underprivileged community.

Multiple sources said the formation of the 11-member board will help the state government bring the Dalit community, divided into separate groups in Bengal, under one umbrella and reach out to them with welfare schemes ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"Bengal was not familiar with the term Dalit earlier and the state government had no such dedicated board earlier.... The board will be assigned to take care of the welfare of backward class people," a senior state bureaucrat.

The secretary of the backward class welfare department on December 15 issued the official notification about the formation of the Dalit board.

The 11-member board will be chaired by Pradip Bansfore, who heads a Dalit organisation in Bengal.

"We will assume our office on December 27. Our goal is to address issues related to the Dalit people and their welfare," said Bansfore.

A Trinamul leader pointed out that this move would also help Mamata woo the Dalit community in her state and counter the BJP.

"The BJP, especially their national leaders had pitched the term Dalit in Bengal since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. They use the term to attack the Bengal government when any case of atrocity or crime takes place against any backward class people. With the formation of the board, our government has proved its concern for Dalit community people in the state," said a Trinamul leader in Calcutta.

"This is the first such a board in the country for Dalits. It will also send a message to the BJP that our government is concerned about the welfare of the Dalit community," he claimed.

The term 'Dalit' was coined by social reformer Jyotirao Phule (1827-1890) who had demanded education and other rights for the backward class people in the country.

Usually, the term Dalit is designated for people belonging to the Scheduled Caste community.

According to the 2011 Census, India houses around 166 million Dalits, and Bengal 10.8 per cent.

In states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, Dalits are a concentrated group that plays a deciding role in electoral politics.

Unlike these states in the Hindi heartland, the Dalit community in Bengal is divided into different groups like Matua, Rajbanshi, Bagdi and Bauri.

"Dalits are not concentrated in Bengal and we can't use the term to mean all the backward class people in the state. I think the state government plans to announce a slew of welfare schemes for all Scheduled Caste groups, apart from addressing their issues separately," said Biswanath Chakraborty, a political scientist in Calcutta.

The BJP said the move was nothing but an attempt to divide people. "The chief minister always tries to divide people into castes and creeds. This is another example when she formed a board only for the Dalits. In our state, the term Dalit term is not widely used at all," said Bengal BJP's chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.