No sooner had Asaduddin Owaisi announced that his party, the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, will contest the upcoming Bihar assembly elections that he was being described as the big spoiler in the race. His well-attended rally in Kishanganj on August 16 sparked widespread speculation that he could draw away a chunk of minority votes from the “secular” combine of the Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress.
At the rally in Kishanganj, Owaisi hit out at Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar, claiming that they were trying to exploit Muslims by creating a fear of the Bharatiya Janata Party. His intent was clear: to woo the region’s minorities. The 46-year-old lawyer demanded a special package for Seemanchal, the unofficial name for the four Muslim-dominated north-eastern districts of Bihar (30-40% of the population in Araria, Katihar and Purnia, and about 70% of the population in Kishanganj).
It is possible that Owaisi, having achieved some success in Maharashtra assembly polls last year, could manage to swing some seats in Bihar and cut into the vote base of BJP’s opponents. But how far will his attempt to make inroads into the Hindi belt succeed?
“Mine is not a Muslim party,” Owaisi told the Economic Times in an interview last week. “That is completely wrong and a misinformation campaign. I have fielded non-Muslim candidates everywhere, including Dalits and OBCs [Other Backward Classes].”
Learning from the past
In the past too, the Hindi belt had witnessed forays similar to the one being contemplated by Owaisi.
In 2007, businessman-politician Badruddin Ajmal from Assam entered the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections after his Assam United Democratic Front won 10 assembly seats in his home state in its maiden electoral fight in 2006. For the Uttar Pradesh contest, Ajmal helped float the Uttar Pradesh United Democratic Front and fielded candidates in 54 constituencies. But the result was disastrous. Fifty-one of the 54 candidates lost their deposit, and only one – Yaqub Qureshi of Meerut – could manage a victory. The Uttar Pradesh United Democratic Front didn’t return for the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh in 2012.
No different was the experience of the Indian Union Muslim League, a Kerala-based party which ventured into the Hindi belt apart from some other parts of the country to cash in on the popular disenchantment with the Congress in the early 1970s. In the general elections of 1971, the Indian Union Muslim League fielded candidates in seven minority-dominated seats of Uttar Pradesh besides contesting from most of the minority-dominated Seemanchal districts of Bihar.
There was a prologue to the IUML’s political foray into the Hindi belt. In the general election of 1967, a federation of Muslim organisations – Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat – had produced a nine-point “People’s Charter” and extended support to candidates of different parties who promised to abide by it after the election. Many candidates did win with the backing of the Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, but did not do much to implement the charter. This stirred a general frustration among a section of Muslim leaders, many of whom began debating the need for a party representing the minorities.
It was this context that the IUML planned to capitalise on as it came out of its Kerala base. The voters of the Hindi belt, however, didn’t warm up to the party. The IUML failed to win a single seat in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the 1971 polls.
Will Owaisi, the firebrand leader, break from the trend of the past? The voters of Bihar will reveal soon enough.
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At the rally in Kishanganj, Owaisi hit out at Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar, claiming that they were trying to exploit Muslims by creating a fear of the Bharatiya Janata Party. His intent was clear: to woo the region’s minorities. The 46-year-old lawyer demanded a special package for Seemanchal, the unofficial name for the four Muslim-dominated north-eastern districts of Bihar (30-40% of the population in Araria, Katihar and Purnia, and about 70% of the population in Kishanganj).
It is possible that Owaisi, having achieved some success in Maharashtra assembly polls last year, could manage to swing some seats in Bihar and cut into the vote base of BJP’s opponents. But how far will his attempt to make inroads into the Hindi belt succeed?
“Mine is not a Muslim party,” Owaisi told the Economic Times in an interview last week. “That is completely wrong and a misinformation campaign. I have fielded non-Muslim candidates everywhere, including Dalits and OBCs [Other Backward Classes].”
Learning from the past
In the past too, the Hindi belt had witnessed forays similar to the one being contemplated by Owaisi.
In 2007, businessman-politician Badruddin Ajmal from Assam entered the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections after his Assam United Democratic Front won 10 assembly seats in his home state in its maiden electoral fight in 2006. For the Uttar Pradesh contest, Ajmal helped float the Uttar Pradesh United Democratic Front and fielded candidates in 54 constituencies. But the result was disastrous. Fifty-one of the 54 candidates lost their deposit, and only one – Yaqub Qureshi of Meerut – could manage a victory. The Uttar Pradesh United Democratic Front didn’t return for the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh in 2012.
No different was the experience of the Indian Union Muslim League, a Kerala-based party which ventured into the Hindi belt apart from some other parts of the country to cash in on the popular disenchantment with the Congress in the early 1970s. In the general elections of 1971, the Indian Union Muslim League fielded candidates in seven minority-dominated seats of Uttar Pradesh besides contesting from most of the minority-dominated Seemanchal districts of Bihar.
There was a prologue to the IUML’s political foray into the Hindi belt. In the general election of 1967, a federation of Muslim organisations – Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat – had produced a nine-point “People’s Charter” and extended support to candidates of different parties who promised to abide by it after the election. Many candidates did win with the backing of the Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, but did not do much to implement the charter. This stirred a general frustration among a section of Muslim leaders, many of whom began debating the need for a party representing the minorities.
It was this context that the IUML planned to capitalise on as it came out of its Kerala base. The voters of the Hindi belt, however, didn’t warm up to the party. The IUML failed to win a single seat in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the 1971 polls.
Will Owaisi, the firebrand leader, break from the trend of the past? The voters of Bihar will reveal soon enough.