Gaya, April 8: Two parties — JD(U) and RJD — are all set to woo minority voters in Bihar before the Lok Sabha polls slated sometime early next year.

The JD(U) chief, Nitish Kumars, recently moved to grant scholarships to minority students who have cleared their board examinations in the first division — irrespective of their family’s annual income.

Not to be outdone, Union HRD minister of state M.A.A. Fatmi promised an Urdu-medium polytechnic and industrial training institute in the state at a congregation of Muslim clerics in Madrasa Islamia Arabia in Sheohar. If Fatmi has his way then the first Urdu-medium polytechnic would be set up in Patna and Darbhanga.

Nitish made his minority move in the legislative council, despite facing stiff opposition from the finance department, which had proposed to stop scholarships to students hailing from families enjoying an annual income of Rs 2 lakh.

Professor A.M. Karimi, an observer, believes that in the voters’ tug-of-war a lot of promises would be broken and that it would be “futile” to ask Fatmi where he would get his textbooks and teachers from, for the Urdu-medium polytechnic.

“Especially at a time when Urdu textbooks are not available in the state, preparing Urdu textbooks for professional and technical courses would be even more difficult,” said writer Syed Ahmed Qadri.

On the other hand the chief minister’s announcement has to pass the reality-check test, says Qadri.

“The state must come forth with the number of Muslim students qualifying for the one-time scholarship of Rs 10,000 after the scheme is introduced,” he added.

The Bihar board of education and examinations, he further said, should know how many minority students are there in each school and as such the dispersal of the special scholarship should be “simple” and school principals can dispearse the amount.

“Politicking in the name of Muslims or those who are Urdu-speaking is not new. Politicians like late Ghulam Sarwar and Jabir Hussain have reaped rich political dividends in the name of ‘Urdu’,” said activist S.B. Bhaskar.

In response to Fatmi’s Urdu-medium polytechnic promise Bhaskar added: “Urdu does not belong to any group and it has to be nurtured and developed as an Indian language.”

But the JD(U) and the RJD are not the only two parties that are trying to woo in the minority vote. By nominating Sabir Ali for the Rajya Sabha seat, LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, too, has revealed his political ambition. Earlier, Paswan had floated an idea of a Muslim chief minister in the state. According to political grapevines, Congress, too, was hunting for a “Muslim face” to replace Sadanand Singh in the crucial run-up to the parliamentary polls.