Around 2,320 years after Ashoka was born, the Bihar government has 'discovered' the great Mauryan's birthday. It has decreed that the emperor was born on April 14, a date that helpfully coincides with the birth anniversary and will be an official holiday in the state.

The move is being seen as the Mahagathbandhan government's attempt to bring the Kushwahas — who believe Ashoka was from their community — back into its fold. RJD-JD (U) leaders admitted the move has no historical basis but was done due to pressure from the community.

"We have tagged Ashoka with Ambedkar because of his strong belief in Buddhism. In UP, Ashoka's birthday is attached with Ambedkar," said JD(U) spokesperson Ajay Alok.

He added that Buddhists celebrate April 14 as 'enlightenment' day . "I know that there is no specific evidence to prove Ashoka's date of birth," he said.

A senior RJD functionary, on condition of anonymity, said it was absurd to connect the date with the emperor. Historians, meanwhile, have castigated the move, saying Ashoka has suddenly become the object of a political tug of war. It's a modern concoction.

Ashoka's epigraphs, the only written version of events in his lifetime, do not mention either the date or year of his birth," said historian Nayanjot Lahiri, who has written a book on the emperor, when asked about the Bihar government's move to declare April 14 his birthday.

"I am shocked at the government's decision. I don't know who advised the CM about this date," said D N Jha, who specialises in ancient Indian history .

Ashoka has suddenly become the object of a political tug of war, said Rajeshwar Prasad Singh, former head of the History department at Patna university. "Earlier, BJP had created an imaginary picture of Ashoka. All this is aimed at wooing the Kushwahas. We don't have any evidence about his caste," he said.

However, Suraj Nandan Prasad Kushwaha, a BJP MLC and history teacher, dismisses the studies of eminent scholars and insists that the party has concrete evidence to prove Ashoka's Kushwaha lineage.

A few months before the Bihar assembly polls, the Rashtravadi Kushwaha Parishad, backed by BJP, announced that emperor Ashoka belonged to the Kushwaha community. On May 17, 2015, his 2,320th birth anniversary celebrations were held and hoardings of BJP members were put up in Patna.

"It was a move to appropriate great personalities from the past and subject them to caste politics," said a political observer.

In June this year, Union minister Ravishankar Prasad had released a postal stamp on emperor Ashoka at Patna. He had announced that a life-size statue of emperor Ashoka would be installed at the ASI-protected site at Kumhrar if his party was voted to power in Bihar.

The Kushwahas, also known as Koeris in Bihar, have generally allied with Nitish Kumar's Kurmi caste in voting for the JD(U). The Koeri-Kurmi tie-up was often likened to a Luv-Kush equation.

