Bihar: Nitish Kumar-led Cabinet Minus Muslims Surprises Minority Voters Among Others

Patna: “Is baar Nitish Kumar ki nahi BJP ki sarkar hai Bihar mein, isiliye ek bhi Musalman ko mantrimamdal mein shamil nahi kiya gaya hai. Yeh ek message hai (This time the government in Bihar is not Nitish Kumar’s but BJP’s, so there is no Muslim in the cabinet. This is a message (for Muslims),” said Abdul Rahman, a resident of Phulwarisharif in the outskirts of Patna, commenting on the formation of the new government in the state.

The absence of any Muslim minister in the Nitish Kumar-led cabinet has come as a surprise for many, as this is the first time since independence that no member from Bihar’s largest minority community has been inducted in the state cabinet. Muslims constitute 16.5 % of the state population of nearly 12 crore.

“This latest move indicates the political marginalisation of Muslims in Bihar, though AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) of Asauddin Owaisi has been claiming that by winning five seats in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections, they have empowered the community in the state. It needs to be mentioned that the number of Muslim legislators have already come down from 24 to 19 this time in the 243 member Bihar Assembly. None from the ruling JD-U won this time, though the party gave ticket to 11 Muslims,” Soroor Ahmad, a political analyst, said pointing out the political repercussions of a non-Muslim cabinet.

He further added that the selection of senior BJP leader Tarakishore Prasad as Deputy Chief Minister is also very symbolic as he comes from Katihar, which falls under the Seemanchal region, where the saffron party and RSS have been actively targetting Muslims in the name of one or other issues since the last over two decades.

Notably, the three other partners of the NDA including the BJP, Hindustani Awam Morcha of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni-led VIP had not fielded any Muslim candidaet in the Assembly elections. As such, the ruling NDA does not have a single Muslim MLA out of the 125 seats it won.

Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar has inducted Ashok Choudhary, a dalit leader, who is not a member of any house, in his cabinet. Similarly, the CM has inducted Mukesh Shahni, chief of the Vikassheel Insaan Party, who was defeated in the elections, in his cabinet. This, too, has raised many eyebrows, Ahmed added.

On the other hand, the Opposition Grand Alliance has 13 Muslim MLAs, eight from Rashtriya Janata Dal, four from Congress and one from Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.

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Abdur Rahman, who runs a small road side tea shop, even though not educated understands the grave situation due to the absence of any Muslim leader in the new cabinet and expressed his dismay over it.

Rahman is one of thousands of Muslims, who are busy discussing the meaning of this political move to keep the community sidelined in the new NDA government led by Nitish, who is president of JD-U, an ally of BJP.

Dr Roomi and Danish Khan, both residents of Gaya town, said that it is clear that the BJP is dominating over Nitish, which is visible from his failure to induct even a single Muslim in his cabinet.

Danish, a Gaya based political observer, told NewsClick that Nitish Kumar during his last phase of election campaign in Muslim dominated Seemanchal region, had refuted UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s claim of pushing outsiders back into the neighbouring country with the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). He had also assured Muslims about giving adequate security and stated that nobody has the power to disenfranchise Muslims in the country. However, Danish said, when it came to forming the government, Muslims have been unceremoniously dumped from Nitish’s scheme of things.

Arshad Ajmal, vice president of Sahular Micro Finance in Patna,who knew Nitish since the days of Samta party in the mid 90s, said, “I was not aware of this face of Nitish. I knew a different Nitish, who used to claim that he will not make any compromise with communal powers and corruption.”

Satyanarayan Madan, who heads Jan Pahal, a civil society organisation in the state, said Nitish’s non-secular face has been exposed and his real commitment to socialist politics has also been unveiled.

He further added, “Nitish is now in a weak position, at best he is an assistant engineer in the Chief Minister’s chair, who can work to implement the development schemes, but politics and governance are fully controlled by the BJP. They will use him till he is implementing the RSS’s agenda, and oust him from the top chair the moment he takes his own stand.”