Leaders from the minority community are seeing red in their omission from the list of candidates announced for the 14 Lok Sabha seats here. Not only Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but also the Mahagathbandhan, which claims to be the custodian of the minority community here, has chosen not to field even one candidate from the minority community for the 17th General Elections in the State.

The Mahagathbandhan, an alliance of Congress party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), appeared visibly defensive about their decision of sidelining leaders from the minority community even before the candidates were announced.

On the day they announced their seat sharing equation for Lok Sabha polls, the bigwigs of the grand alliance claimed that the parties have unanimously decided to back a member of the minority community for the 2020 Rajya Sabha elections. They clarified that the members of the grand alliance were peeved by the alleged exploitation of the minority community in the current regime and wanted to support leaders from the community in making it to the upper house if not the lower house of the parliament. Congress’s Littipara Legislator Irfan Ansari expressed disappointment over the decision of sidelining Muslim leaders in the list of Mahagathbandhan candidates. Ansari said that he had personally tried to contact Congress President Rahul Gandhi to raise this concern, but could not get an appointment. “There is a clear dissent in the minority community here over sidelining of Muslim leaders. The State has 14 Lok Sabha constituencies and 18 per cent Muslim population, how can you justify not giving ticket to even one Muslim candidate?” he asked. Ansari added that he was still waiting to get an appointment with Rahul Gandhi and convey the message to him.

“Why was Furqan Ansari not given a ticket from Godda? The party would have retained the support of Muslim candidates and also had a strong contender for the seat,” he said.

Furqan Ansari had won the 14th Lok Sabha elections in Godda and was succeeded by BJP’s Nishikant Dubey in the next elections. Given the strong population of Muslim voters in Godda, Ansari could have been a choice for the Congress party. However, the Mahagathbandhan allies unanimously decided to give the Godda seat to former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi’s JVM-P. The JVM-P later fielded Pradeep Yadav, who interestingly was defeated by Ansari in the 14th Lok Sabha elections here.

“Only Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly can give true representation to the minority community. Rajya Sabha cannot be a substitute,” said Furqan.

He added that the party should have taken the Muslim population in some constituencies into consideration before finalizing candidates.

“All allies of the grand alliance have agreed that we will field a member of the minority community for the 2020 Rajya Sabha elections. Their representation in the upper and the lower houses is very important,” Ajoy Kumar, President, Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) said on the day the Mahagathbandhan announced its seat sharing equation in Ranchi.

JMM’s Executive President Hemant Soren too clarified that the primary objective of the alliance was to win all the 14 seats and if any community fails to get representation in the General Elections, it will be for the larger benefit of the alliance.

“The UPA has always stood in support of the minority community. Unlike BJP, we do not do Hindu-Muslim politics,” Soren said.

As per the seat sharing equation finalized by the Mahagathbandhan, the Congress here is contesting on seven seats, JMM on four, JVM-P on two and RJD on one. However, the RJD as well as Congress have fielded their candidates in Chatra.