After the humiliating debacle of the RJD-led grand alliance in the Lok Sabha elections at the hands of the BJP, the secular parties are lying low and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM is looking to fill the vacuum
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
PATNA – The first win of the All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a seat in Bihar’s Kishanganj assembly bypoll, has boosted the morale of the party. It would contest the assembly polls across Bihar in November next year. AIMIM’s state president Akhatrul Iman told Clarion India that the MIM’s win in Kishanganj reflected the people’s disenchantment with the secular parties as well as the BJP. Taking the cue, the party would set high electoral ambitions in the state.
“People voted for secular parties as well as communal forces in the past, but this did not help push their causes. Those parties rather exploited the people. They failed to take up the pressing issues. Nor did they make any serious efforts for development. Seemanchal is thus the most backward region of Bihar, where the problems of poverty, illiteracy, malnourishment, flood devastation and migration persist,” said Iman.
The MIM had contested six seats from the Seemanchal region in 2015, which included the districts of Araria, Kishanganj, Purnea and Katihar, but drew a blank. It also failed in winning a seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when the party fielded its state president Akhtarul Iman from Kishanganj, which has a 70 per cent Muslim population.
At that time, addressing election rallies, MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi lashed out at political parties for treating the region in a step-motherly manner and sought special status for the region under Article 371 of the Constitution. The party will again raise the same issues and demands in the next assembly elections and seek votes for it from across the state.
“The deprived sections of the society are urging us to establish branches of the Majlis in their areas. We are doing so across Bihar and would explore electoral possibilities. So far we concentrated only on Seemanchal region,” he said.
Iman feels the party is gaining currency and acceptability in Seemanchal. “Votes for the party are increasing in successive polls. This shows the public mood is shifting in favour of the MIM”.
In 2015, the party got 16,000 votes in Kishanganj assembly constituency. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it got 40,000 votes there. In the present assembly bypoll, the party represented by Qamarul Hoda secured 70,469 votes, won the seat. It defeated BJP candidate Sweety Singh by 10,204 votes.
In the next Bihar assembly elections, the party would raise the issues of the deprived and marginalized sections. They should be given their due. Developmental works should be done in areas that remained backward. Corruption should be eradicated. The communal and opportunist politics should see an end, he said.
After the humiliating debacle of the RJD-led grand alliance in the Lok Sabha elections at the hands of the BJP, the secular parties are lying low. The Congress has lost its deposit in Kishanganj because its leaders were not active. The MIM did not leave any stone unturned and won the poll. It seems that the MIM is trying to fill the vacuum left by the Opposition in Bihar.
