By Md Mudassir Alam,
The Lok Sabha election of 2009 has led to several interesting outcomes which could change the political scenario of the country. The Congress-led UPA, which was earlier not sure of success, bagged 261 seats. It is really a pleasing prospect for the people of the country that they do not have to witness the cheap ‘bargain politics’ of the regional parties, courtesy the performance of the Congress party that won 205 seats.
The success of the Congress has surprised all and it has been proved yet again that tall claims sound hollow to the well-informed. The BJP, which coined the slogan ‘Majbut Neta, Nirnayak Sarkar’, failed to woo the voters again and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh silently proved his strength.
Congress has done very well in several states of the country and swept all the seven seats in the national capital of Delhi. Importantly, the Congress has regained its lost pride in the Hindi heartland and the political hub of the country, Uttar Pradesh. The veteran national party also registered a phenomenal success in Rajasthan which had been snatched by BJP in the last election. Meanwhile, the Congress also succeeded in two Bihar constituencies, where the JD (U) – BJP coalition has won 32 out of 40 seats.
Of course, the two seats won by the Congress in Bihar are negligible in comparison with the overall national figure of 205. But, it can be said a new dawn has broken for the Congress in Bihar which lost in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. As in many districts of Bihar, the Congress had lost its ground in the Muslim-dominated Kishanganj district. Renowned journalist MJ Akbar won the Lok Sabha election from Kishanganj in 1989 on a Congress ticket. After that, the Congress has not won Kishanganj.
Finally, after a long wait, Maulana Asrarul Haque has brought the smile back in the Congress camp by winning the election by a good margin of 81,205 votes. In 1989, Maulana Asrarul Haque was defeated by MJ Akbar by around 25,000 votes. At the time, Maulana Asrarul Haque contested as an independent and lost, due to the legacy of the Congress in the constituency.
Despite being the people’s favourite, Haque lost the election in 1998 and 1999 as well on Samajwadi Party and NCP tickets respectively. However, this time, owing to the RJD-LJP coalition in Bihar, the Congress decided to field candidates on its own from several constituencies, including Kishanganj.
The 62-year-old Maulana got the Congress ticket at the last minute, replacing Jawed Azad. The decision of the Congress party was welcomed by the people of Kishanganj and all focus shifted to Haque.
From the beginning of the election campaigns, it became clear that Haque would win. At last, on May 16, when the country’s political scene witnessed a major transformation, Haque had helped the Congress by winning the Kishanganj seat. In the days to come, the Congress may expect more success from Bihar.
On Kishanganj native Maulana Asrarul Haque’s victory M S Hasan, a local resident of Kishanganj said, “Maulana’s victory is a gift for the economically backward area and we may now expect development in the key areas like education, health.” Further the BHEL employee Hasan mentioned that “Manhoman Singh led UPA government should give a cabinet berth to Maulana Asrar for the proper development of the minorities in the country.”
The next day after the announcement of Lok Sabha election result Kishanganj witnessed a huge procession celebrating the victory of Maulana Asrar. Along with Congress party workers, locals participated in the massive victory celebrations. A delighted Ishaq Alam a top functionary of Kishanganj Congress Committee said, “We got the reward of our hard labour in the form of Maulana Asrarul Haque’s grand triumph. It is a historic day for Kishanganj and now we can expect a better and bright future ahead.”
Haque’s victory is seen as a victory of the people of the educationally and economically backward Kishanganj district. As a Congress-led UPA government is going to take charge at the centre, the people of Kishanganj expect all-round development of the district now. One only hopes that the UPA government will do its best for the development of Kishanganj, the country’s most backward district.
Last but not the least, Haque has got the people’s mandate for the educational and economic uplift of Kishanganj. The sun has perhaps risen on the educationally and economically-deprived district.
(Author is a Delhi-based freelance journalist hailing from Kishanganj, Bihar)