The major political parties in Bihar — the Janata Dal(U), RJD and the Congress — which are depending on minority votes, have refused to project any “leader” from the minorities. And those who have been projected as chief ministerial candidates by their respective parties and allies, Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, are not contesting the election.
Minority votes have always been decisive in Bihar. In fact, Mr Lalu Yadav became a national leader because of the vote and support of minorities and could rule the state for 15 years, a prominent Muslim leader from the state observed. He added that without support from the minorities, Mr Yadav would have been confined to his Yadav community while Mr Nitish Kumar would have remained a Kurmi leader.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan did try to play the minority card in the last Assembly election but it did not work mainly because he could not muster the support of other communities. And this time his priority is to make his brother deputy chief minister if the RJD-LJP combine comes to power.
The Congress is shying away from projecting a chief ministerial candidate from the minorities despite fielding Muslims in a sizeable number. It made Mehboob Ali Kaiser the Bihar Congress chief ahead of the Assembly polls. He is also contesting the election but the stated stand of the Congress is that he will not be projected as a “leader”.
Interestingly, Congress officials do not give a straight reply to questions on projecting a “leader” despite the fact that the party had officially projected Dr Manmohan Singh as the prime ministerial candidate well before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.