Asaduddin Owaisi and his MIM are looking to make a foray into Bihar as well where they are contesting the elections.
Traditionally, the vote of the minorities in Bihar has gone to Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar. This time around, Owaisi is looking to grab that share by appealing to the Muslims and thereby make a dent in Bihar electoral politics.
Owaisi’s presence can actually work out to the advantage of the BJP because society would get communally polarized.
There would have been no problem if Owaisi speaks the language of development. But sadly, that is not the case. The man and his brother are notorious for their hate speeches which invoke equally virulent reactions from their Hindutva counterparts.
A successful foray into Maharashtra politics this year has emboldened Owaisi to test the waters across the nation wherever there is a sizeable Muslim vote bank.
The latest census results reveal that the Muslim population in the country has increased by 24.6% between 2001 and 2011 whereas for the Hindus, it was 16.8%.
In another couple of decades, assuming that Owaisi cements his place as a pan-Indian leader and Muslims outgrow the Hindus in terms of numbers, the conditions would be exactly the same as during 1947 which motivated Jinnah to call for a ‘Direct Action Day’.
Would we have to see another such day in future?
