Amid attempts of Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD to win upper caste voters, particularly Rajputs and Bhumihars, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is gearing up to reach out to Muslims in a big way to offset the losses in the October-November Bihar Assembly elections. The JD(U)’s aggressive canvassing for the Muslim votes has already created a flutter in the state BJP ranks, though the two parties are jointly contesting the polls.
The JD(U) is reaching out for the minority vote-base with the promise of 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and implementation of the Sachchar Commission report. However, the biggest slogan to win the support of the Muslims, that the party is making is that “communal riots have now become part of history in the state”.
“The first thing that the Muslims ask anywhere in the country is that they should be safe. They want the state to be free of communal riots. In Bihar no communal riots took place, after the JD(U)-BJP combine came to power in 2005. Communal riots in Bihar is now a subject of history,” said JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar Ansari.
The Muslims vote base has become the most sought after constituency for Mr Kumar, after two of his former allies and caste leaders, namely Prabhunath Singh, from the Rajput caste, and Rajiv Ranjan “Lallan” Singh, a Bhumihar caste leader, deserted him. The JD(U) leadership wants to offset the loss in the upper caste vote-base with that of the minorities.
Explaining the party’s achievements in minority welfare, Mr Ansari said that nowhere in the country the riot victims are getting pension as is the case in Bhagalpur in Bihar. “Not only the rioters were convicted in the infamous 1989 Bhagalpur riots, the compensation has been distributed to all the victims who are also getting pension. About 900 victims are getting a pension of `3,000 each. The big thing that Mr Kumar has done is that he has removed the psyche of fear from the minds of the Muslims in Bihar,” added Mr Ansari.
The JD(U) leader went on to add that more than 10,000 graveyards in the state, which were facing encroachments and were frequented by animals have now boundary walls.