This is Bihar's election, not of Pakistan: In poll campaign, Owaisi hits out at Amit Shah

Taking a jibe at BJP president Amit Shah’s assertion that if the BJP loses Bihar elections, firecrackers will go off in Pakistan, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi told well-attended rallies at Kishanganj’s Kochadhaman assembly constituency on Sunday that people here would light firecrackers on 8 November – when counting of votes take place – and Shah would hear the noise in Delhi. “The BJP has problems with Pakistan, and its political mentor RSS is obsessed with Bangladesh but I fail to understand what we have to do with Pakistan. Mr Amit Shah, have you gone out of your mind? This is an election in Bihar’s election, not in Pakistan. What do we have to do with that country? We are Indians by choice. Our forefathers were born here and got buried in this soil. Listen carefully Mr Shah, the people of Kochadhaman and the entire Seemanchal will celebrate Diwali and burst crackers on 8 November and you will hear the noise in Delhi,” said the Hyderabad MP, who was campaigning for Akhtarul Iman, amid massive cheers from the crowd. [caption id=“attachment_2492190” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image: Tarique Anwar/Firstpost[/caption] This reporter caught up with the AIMIM supremo after he concluded his speech at Bishanpur in Kochadhaman and accompanied him in his vehicle to another venue in the same assembly segment. Asked why was he raking up the 2002 Gujarat riots and Dadri lynching, he said, “I am not raking up any issue. These are facts. If they can call us vote cutters or sympathisers of the BJP, why can I not talk about facts? We not only question the BJP on this issue but also the Mahagathbandhan, which claims to be the champion of Dalits and minorities. Where had the humanity and secularism of (chief minister) Nitish Kumar gone when Gujarat was happening? He was the Union railway minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government then." To a question whether his speeches would polarise the society in Seemanchal and the entire state where Hindu and Muslims have co-existed for years, Owaisi said he is not making communal remarks. “I am not making any communal remarks at all. I am talking about the injustice done to them by the dispensation at the Centre and in the state in an attempt to unite Dalits and minorities. I am a man who talks about affirmative action, not secularism,” he added. On his foray into Bihar’s political battle, he replied, “Seemanchal, which has the potential to emerge as one of the most prosperous districts in the state, has been kept backward deliberately just because of one reason – Muslims constitute a majority of the population here. Had there not been this injustice, we would have never contested from here.” Owaisi substantiated his allegation with facts. “How can a place that produces three crops of paddy, jute, and has tea gardens, be backward? Why was no jute mill or tea processing industry – as promised by Nitish Kumar – set up here for decades? Why are farmers, despite producing three cash crops, so poor? Why has the AMU centre in Kishanganj been starved of funds? There are only two MBBS doctors for one lakh population here, why is that? Infant mortality rate here stands at 54 - the highest in Bihar. The district has poor nutrition and health status. About 95.4 percent children here are underweight,” he said, explaining the reason of his poll debut here. He said developing the Seemanchal region is in the national interest and therefore, we decided the AIMIM must contest here. On division of Muslim votes, he added that a misconception is being propagated in this regard. “How will we divide Muslim voters when we are contesting on six seats out of the total 243. We fielded our candidates in constituencies where their winning probability is very high. I want to ask those who accuse us of striking an indirect alliance with the BJP, who brought the saffron party here? Who strengthened it in the state when it had no root here?” he said. His firebrand brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, the second-in-command of the AIMIM, is not with him and to back him in Seemanchal this election because an arrest warrant is pending against him for violation of the poll code of conduct. Asked whether his absence will have any impact on the AIMIM’s prospects, he replied, “It is true that Akbar is more popular than me but what has happened to him is unfair. Amit Shah’s Pakistan remark was more objectionable than what Akbar said. The arrest warrant against him shows that our rivals were afraid of him.” The senior Owaisi is single-handedly fighting PM Narendra Modi-led NDA and Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance in Seemanchal. The accusations against Owaisis and the police action against Akbaruddin appears to have consolidated Muslims in favour of the AIMIM and over a period of 14 days the Hyderabad-based party has emerged as a group that cannot not be ignored, feel political observers. Gandhi Chowk councillor Madan Kumar Jalam said, “I took part in one of the rallies addressed by the junior Owaisi and witnessed something I had never witnessed in any political rally. He once asked the crowd to sit down and be patient, all fell silent and sat on the ground. His video is being circulated through social media and he might bring the advantage of victimhood to AIMIM in the polls,” he added. This election has become a prestige issue for Owaisi and therefore he is camping here for over a fortnight and addressing five-six public meetings every day. City’s Chanchal Palace hotel has been converted into the war room of the AIMIM. Owaisi is staying here with his team. All political calculations and strategies are being made here to ensure the party’s victory.