Bihar polls: Owaisi to launch Yatra in Seemanchal; explore possibilities after INDIA bloc snub

During the Yatra, Owaisi will hold over 24 public meetings across Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnea, districts with a significant Muslim population.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has launched full-scale preparations to contest the Bihar assembly elections after its request to join the INDIA bloc, particularly with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), went unanswered. Party chief Asaduddin Owaisi will lead a five-day Nyay Yatra in the Seemanchal belt from September 23-27 to mobilise the cadre.

AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. (ANI)

Announcing his plans on X (formerly Twitter) on September 22, Owaisi said the AIMIM will take on both the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA and the INDIA bloc in the upcoming assembly elections. He also hinted at exploring new alliances in Seemanchal, similar to 2020 when AIMIM joined hands with the Samajwadi Janata Dal Democratic, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and PSP to form the Grand Democratic Secular Front (GDSF).

During the Yatra, Owaisi will hold over 24 public meetings across Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnea, districts with a significant Muslim population. The campaign is expected to highlight backwardness, illiteracy, unemployment and poverty in the region.

“We are in talks with new friends and parties to put up a strong contest by maintaining equal distance from both NDA and INDIA,” a senior AIMIM leader told HT, though he stressed that final decisions would be taken by Owaisi.

Observers say the political landscape in Bihar is different from 2020. According to professor NK Srivastava, AIMIM will adopt a wait-and-watch approach, looking to ally with disgruntled factions from both alliances. “AIMIM is keen to tie up with Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party, but PK (as he is called) is firm on contesting alone,” Srivastava noted.

Party insiders said Owaisi will first target the five constituencies AIMIM won in 2020 to consolidate its base, despite the defection of four MLAs to the RJD in 2022. “Our support base remains intact,” state president Akhtarul Iman insisted, accusing the RJD of engineering a split. He expressed disappointment over RJD’s refusal to accommodate AIMIM in the Grand Alliance. “This has proved that AIMIM is not the ‘B team’ of BJP as alleged by the RJD and the Congress,” he said.

Meanwhile, AIMIM has started constituency-level meetings in preparation for the polls. On Sunday, the party organised a meeting in Munger where district president Mohammad Shahid Hussain accused the RJD and the Congress of “betraying Muslims”. He claimed the two parties wanted Muslim votes but were unwilling to give them tickets, adding that the 1.4 million Muslims across 22 constituencies in Munger division would “teach them a lesson”.

AIMIM first entered Bihar politics through Seemanchal in 2015, opening its account in the 2019 bye-election when Qamrul Hoda won the Kishanganj seat, defeating a Congress candidate. The party shocked political observers in 2020 by winning five seats, pushing the RJD to just one in Seemanchal’s 24 constituencies, where Muslims form 40-70% of the population. But by 2022, four of its MLAs defected to the RJD, raising the latter’s tally in the region to five.