Some people, mainly youth, gathered on the dusty ground near an upgraded high school at Gachch Para village in Kochadhaman Assembly constituency, 15-km away from Kishanganj town on Tuesday evening. loudspeakers have been fitted with the tree branches and a few vapour lights also fitted atop bamboo polls. From the village bazaar people started pouring on the ground. The arrival of a couple of vehicles raised clouds of dust.
“Barrister sahib is coming,” informed Abdul Qadir, a red tee clad youth who put a green cap that identifies him as a worker of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and locally called Meem. loudspeakers fitted on autos had been blaring and announcing the speech of Syed Asaduddin Owaisi at a nukkad (corner) meeting.
Speakers after speaker thundered on the mike asking Muslims to unite and give a befitting reply to communal, fascist and so-called secular forces. Sometimes later after sunset AIMIM candidate and former MlA Akhtarul Iman arrived in crisp kurta, pyjama and a buttoned black bandi. The lights were put on which invited bunches of maggots. The speeches continued. There was no sign of Barrister sahib Sometimes the announcer would announce that he was in a nearby village, sometimes informed the small crowd that he was offering namaz at a particular place. Iman took the mike and spoke for about an hour while extending his speech aid hope that Owaisi will arrive. The meeting ended by 7.30pm with the final announcement that he was unable to come due to some “emergency.”
Owaisi has been camping in a hotel in Kishanganj for about two months with a number of people, friends and partymen from Hyderabad. On Monday afternoon most of them were seen packing and their luggage included heavy instruments of physical exercise. Dressed in his signature pinstrip sherwani and skull cap, Owaisi left the hotel around 3 pm saying he was going to address a meeting somewhere in Kishanganj. “I am running short of time,” he told this correspondent who waited for him for about half an hour.
Qamrul Hoda, an elderly villager was upset when Owaisi did not turn up. “He should have come. Announcements have been made throughout the day and we were asked to attend the meeting,” he rued. The old man was scolded by a youth, “What difference it makes. We have to vote his party.”
In the nearby Boma Basti, a hamlet of 100 houses all of Muslims, Zakir Husain was not sure that Owaisi has made any impact on the Kishanganj Muslims. “We can consider him in next election. For this election we have made up our mind,” he said signalling support to JD(U) candidate Mujahid Alam. His uncle Haji Samad, who has hearing problem, said, “There is no division in Muslim votes.” Asked if he ever heard name of the person called Asaduddin Owaisi before he came to Kishanganj, he and other family members nodded their heads in negative.
But Noorul Hoda, a law student, said Owaisi may divide Muslim votes. “People have respect for Owaisi because of his fiery speeches and bold attitude. They have been told that he takes up issues related to Muslim in an aggressive manner on the national level,” he said while fiddling with his smartphone.
Some villagers sitting at a tea stall were, however, unsure that Owaisi would make much difference. “Yes, we respect him, we have a liking for him. But it does not mean that we will vote his party. He needs to work for sometime in this region if he really has concern for our poverty, illiteracy and unemployment,” said Mohammad Yaqub, a farmer at Salki Chowk.
The AIMIM has fielded six candidates, four in Kishanganj and two in Purnia. The list included one candidate of scheduled caste. Initially, the party was in favour of fielding candidates in all the 24 constituencies in Seemanchal area. But later on, obviously after reading the situation, Owaisi restricted his poll plans and contended on only six seats. There are people who believe that he is contesting symbolically only to test his popularity and influence in order to expand base in future.