All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen will be contesting the Assembly elections in Bihar but will confine itself to a few seats in the most backward and underdeveloped region of Seemanchal, party president and Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi told a Press conference in Hyderabad on Saturday.
“We will be concentrating only on Seemanchal region where development is the biggest issue”, Owaisi said. “But due to strategic reasons I cannot tell you how many seats we will be contesting”, he said.
Owaisi also announced that former Bihar MlA Akhtarul Iman will be the president of Bihar unit of MIM. Engineer Aftaf Ansari, the former State spokesperson of Bihar Congress was also among the prominent Muslim political figures who joined the AIMIM.
Akhtarul Iman, who was present at the Press conference had hit national headlines during the 2014 lok Sabha elections when he as Janata Dal (U) candidate withdrew from Kishangunj lok Sabha constituency to avoid the split of Muslim votes and helped Moulana Asrarul Haq Qasimi in defeating a BJP candidate.
Owaisi and Akhtarul Iman dismissed the allegations of critics that AIMIM’s entry will divide Muslim votes, communalise the poll scene and help the BJP. “It is all baseless propaganda. We are contesting just a few seats. There are 243 Assembly seats in Bihar. let them defeat the BJP there”, Owaisi said. “Why do some political parties have this illusion that only they are the flag bearers of secularism and only they can defeat the communal forces”, he asked.
Owaisi asked why the BJP was able to win in Haryana and municipal elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan when AIMIM was not in the fray. “These secular parties can’t blame AIMIM for their weaknesses in fighting against the communal forces”, he said.
Owaisi ruled out the possibility of AIMIM entering into an understanding with any other party or alliance.
When asked about the party’s stand in other parts of the State where it will not be fielding any candidates, Owaisi said that he will appeal to the electorate to support secular forces and defeat the communal forces who were trying to make India a Hindu Rashtra. He said that voters of Bihar will have many options before them as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the left parties will also be contesting elections on their own.
“Our demand is that a Seemanchal Development Council should be created under Article 371 of the Constitution to ensure the development of the poverty-stricken region”, Owaisi said stressing that his party will fight for the economic and educational empowerment of both minorities and Dalits who constitute 70 per cent of the population of the region spread over four districts.
The region has 24 Assembly seats and the party’s sources indicated that it will contest ten or less number of seats where it was sure of getting support. Sources said that the party has already finalised four or five candidates.
Akhtarul Iman will he contesting from Kocha Dhamin, the seat he won twice as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate. He had also represented Kishangunj in the State Assembly once and switched his loyalties to JD (U) before the lok Sabha elections. His association with Nitish Kumar’s party proved short-lived.
Akhtarul Iman said that he had to withdraw from the lok Sabha elections to defeat those who were trying to harm the harmonious and peaceful relations between the Hindus and Muslims in Seemanchal. He regretted that the local leaders of Janata Dal (U) had joined hands with the BJP in the last elections and his complaint to the party president did not yield any results, forcing him to quit.
Iman, who later launched Samaji Insaf Morcha said that before his decision to withdraw, secular votes were divided in other parts of Bihar. “But after my move the decision of Dalits and minorities changed and benefited secularism”, he said.
“It is incorrect to say that AIMIM’s entry will harm secularism”, he said.
Another leader from Bihar said that they want the secular forces to win the Assembly elections and defeat the communal parties. “But we want our share in political power”, he said.
60-year-old AIMIM has so far largely been confined to Hyderabad city and Telangana region. But starting with Maharashtra elections last year, it was striving hard to spread its net to the other States. Owaisi, who led his party to success on two Assembly seats in Maharashtra and also enabled his party to emerge as the main Opposition in Aurngabad Municipal Corporation has already announced his plans to contest Assembly elections in UP, Karnataka and West Bengal.