North India Statesman
News India Live, Digital Desk: The results of Bihar Assembly elections have broken many political equations. While on one hand NDA has won a landslide victory, on the other hand investigation into the reasons for the defeat of the Grand Alliance has begun. The one thing that remains the biggest issue of debate in this election is the dispersion of Muslim votes. Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM has made a big dent in the Muslim votes, traditionally considered the basis of the RJD-Congress alliance, especially in the Seemanchal area.
Did Owaisi spoil the game of Grand Alliance?
Seemanchal is an area of Bihar where the Muslim population is in significant numbers and has a direct impact on the election results. For years it has been considered a strong fort of RJD and Congress. But this time Owaisi’s party AIMIM spoiled the mathematics of the grand alliance by performing strongly on many seats. The presence of AIMIM made the contest triangular on many seats, which directly benefited the NDA candidates.
After the results came out, Congress and RJD leaders are openly calling AIMIM a ‘vote-cutting’ party and BJP’s ‘B-team’. They allege that Owaisi deliberately fielded candidates on such seats where the Grand Alliance was likely to win, so that BJP could benefit by dividing the secular votes.
AIMIM’s reply- Stop taking us lightly
AIMIM has also made a sharp counterattack on these allegations. Party leaders say that RJD and Congress themselves are responsible for the division of Muslim votes, not Owaisi’s party. AIMIM’s national spokesperson Waris Pathan clearly said that he had offered to contest the elections with the Grand Alliance, but he rejected the offer.
Owaisi has been continuously saying in his rallies that the so-called secular parties have considered Muslims only as vote bank and have never done any concrete work for their development. AIMIM argues that they are in the field to give Muslims their political rights, not to defeat or win anyone. The party says that now Muslims are not anyone’s bonded voters and they want to choose their own leaders.
Who is really responsible?
In this political squabble, the question is who is really responsible for this disintegration? Is it the increasing popularity of Owaisi, which has given a new option to the Muslim youth? Or is it the failure of the Grand Alliance’s own strategy, which could not preserve its traditional vote bank?
Political experts believe that now Muslim voters in Bihar are not voting only on religious identity, but issues like education, employment and development are also equally important for them. Perhaps this is the reason why he has expressed his trust in different parties this time. These results are a big warning to all “secular” parties that they can no longer make the mistake of taking the Muslim community lightly.
