BJP, Grand Alliance knock at EC door, allege each other of communal campaign
New Delhi : With the campaign for the crucial fifth phase picking up momentum, both the warring alliances in Bihar have started accusing each other of “communalism”. Even as BJP president Amit Shah’s controversial statement about crackers going off in Pakistan hit headlines, delegations of both the Grand Alliance and the NDA knocked at Nirvachan Sadan alleging each other of vitiating the atmosphere by spreading fear and creating disharmony.
The fifth phase of the polls on November 5 will involve the highest concentration of Muslims in Bihar. It is also considered a communally sensitive area.
A Grand Alliance team led by JDU MP KC Tyagi and Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala lodged a formal complaint with the EC about a recent advertisement released by the BJP in Bihar newspapers. The ad talks of RJD, JDU and Congress conspiring to “rob the plate of Dalits” by bringing reservation for minorities out of the existing quotas. The BJP ad also talked of dreaded terrorists like Yasin Bhatkal finding a safe haven in Bihar due to the negligent policies of the JDU-RJD leadership. The alliance demanded the immediate cancellation of the ad and action to be taken under relevant sections against the BJP for “promoting enmity between communities” and exerting undue influence upon voters. PM Narendra Modi had earlier tried to turn the tables on the Mandal debate by raising the issue of reservation for backward minorities.
Not to be left behind, a BJP delegation led by Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Sudhanshu Trivedi and Siddharth Nath Singh also approached the EC this morning. The BJP leaders complained against Rahul Gandhi’s speech where he had charged the BJP leadership of pitching Hindus and Muslims against each other. The BJP also complained against personal attacks on their leaders, like Amit Shah and Narendra Modi, by Lalu Prasad in various public meetings.
The BJP’s new advertisement in Bihar papers or the Grand Alliance’s attacks on the RSS are a clear indication that the parties would hold back nothing in raising the communal pitch in Mithila and particularly the Seemanchal zone, which go to polls in the penultimate phase. While the Mithila district of Darbhanga has about 23 per cent Muslim population, Seemanchal districts such as Kishanganj and Katihar have 78 per cent and 43 per cent Muslims respectively. Neighbouring areas like Purnea and the Nepal border-lined Araria also have a sizeable Muslim presence.
The Muslim population in all these areas is way above the all-Bihar figure of 18 per cent.
The BJP, though strong in Mithila, has never fared well in Seemanchal. The party hopes to gain some support by attempting a reverse polarisation of Hindus to improve its prospects.
BJP strategists are also hopeful that smaller parties like Asaduddin Owaisi’s MIM, Tariq Anwar-led NCP and Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Manch would eat into the Grand Alliance’s votes, thus helping the NDA candidates.
