Bihar: Owaisi, Manjhi to hold joint rally in Kishanganj against CAA

PATNA: Bihar’s former CM and HIndustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief, Jitan Ram Manjhi, has decided to join hands with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi with a move to create a new political combination of Muslims and dalits ahead of assembly polls in the state.
Muslims constitute 17% of Bihar’s population while scheduled caste 16%. If both the groups get united, they might make a dent in vote bank of secular parties.Assembly election in the state is due in October-November 2020.
Currently, the HAM(S) and the AIMIM each have one MLA in the 243-member Bihar assembly and both the parties feel they can expand their base ft they come together under a larger umbrella.
As a beginning of their long-term move, Manjhi and Owaisi have decided to hold a joint rally in Muslim-dominated Kishanganj on December 29 to register their protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).
Confirming the proposed rally, the AIMIM’s Bihar unit chief and former MLA Akhtarul Iman told TOI on Wednesday that the first ever joint rally of HAM(S) and the AIMIM would be held at Ruidhasa maidan in Kishanganj.
“Owaisi and Manjhi have confirmed their presence at the rally. Maharashtra cadre IPS officer Abdur Rahman, who recently resigned from the service in protest against the CAA, is also arriving to address the rally,” Iman told TOI over phone.
On being asked whether Manjhi was going to form a new front of Muslim-dalits by joining hands with Owaisi, the HAM(S) spokesperson Danish Rizwan told TOI, “Right now, we are coming to together with single aim to register our protest against the CAA and the NRC. Currently, we have no plan to form a front. But in politics, possibilities are always there.”
To a question, Iman said, “What is wrong if Manjhi or any other like-minded people are coming with us (AIMIM) in our protest against the CAA, NRC and NPR.”
Iman also said, “We will try our best to unite all like-minded and secular forces to give an alternative against the NDA in the next assembly election in Bihar.”
The AIMIM made its maiden entry into Bihar assembly in October this year after its candidate Qamrul Hoda won by-election from Kishanganj seat defeating the ruling BJP candidate Sweety Singh by a margin of over 19,000 votes and relegating the Congress candidate to the third position.
Then, Manjhi had announced to develop a political friendship with Owaisi’s party. Manjhi’s disenchantment with the RJD, the main constituent of five-party opposition’s grand alliance, was apparently seen on November 21 when other GA allies openly took part in the RJD-sponsored Bihar Bandh, but Manjhi and his party was conspicuous by their absence from the Patna roads.