Why Muslims flocked to Nitish and BJP in Bihar

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ajit chak

17 December, 2010

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar was the first to implement this through a GO and it has reaped considerable benefit from this, he adds. According to Nehaluddin, Muslim voters normally shy away from the BJP but Nitish changed this.

THE SECRET of Nitish Kumar’s success in Bihar lies in adopting the formula proposed by All India Muslim Forum President Nehaluddin Ahmad. The formula is extremely simple, said Nehaluddin, who currently teaches law in the Sultanate of Brunei.

“I had proposed to Mayawati and even Mulayam Singh Yadav also to implement this formula in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Under the Mandal Commission certain backward castes of Muslims known as Dalit Muslims are entitled for reservation in government jobs.

Since dalit muslims are even more backward than backward Hindus in terms of education and economic status, I proposed that the state government issue a Government Order (GO) freezing 8.44 percent of the seats for Dalit Muslims. This would enable them to avail of this facility otherwise what happens is that the more affluent backwards like Ahirs and Kurmis capture these seats in total,” said Nehaluddin, President of the All India Muslim Forum .

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar was the first to implement this through a GO and they have reaped considerable benefit from this he adds. According to Nehaluddin, Muslim voters normally shy away from the BJP or any BJP alliance but Nitish has won them over by this gesture.

What is surprising is that the Communists in West Bengal have done the same. In fact, they have frozen 10 percent of the seats for backward Muslims in their state, he said. This will be a shot in the arm of the sagging fortunes of the communists in the state, he added.

He further said the state of Uttar Pradesh however today sadly lacks a true Muslim leader, who cares about the masses. Today, we have several ‘wannabe’ leaders, who want to cash in on this vacuum but it is like going to the public and saying please make me your leader.

No one becomes a leader by asking for something for himself, he becomes a leader by asking something for the masses or doings omething for them, stated Nehaluddin. He lamented the fact that while Bihar and Bengal have adopted his formula no one in Uttar Pradesh has bothered to do so.