Patna: The Bhagalpur flare-up in which Arjit Shashwat, the son of central minister from the BJP Ashwini Choubey, has been named accused has got the Janata Dal United worried because of the potential threat of a voter backlash in the next elections.
Many of the JDU legislators have been elected on Muslim votes and they fear that Bhagalpur could become a flashpoint.
"After the 1989 polls, the BJP was able to gain in strength in the area and several times won the Lok Sabha seat. In 2004, when Lalu Prasad swept the general elections in Bihar, it was Sushil Kumar Modi who won from Bhagalpur. The social divide suits the party. But we will have to face the implications state-wide," a JDU leader said on the condition of anonymity.
Arjit has been named accused in the FIR lodged with Nathnagar police station in Bhagalpur on March 17 for taking out a rally allegedly without permission of the district administration. But while Bhagalpur police have termed him an absconder, Arjit cocked a snoop at the administration by addressing a news meet in Patna on Wednesday and daring the government to come and arrest him.
That he has been evading arrest has caused much heartburn in the JDU, since chief minister and party president Nitish Kumar has said he was willing to pay any price to preserve communal harmony in the state. "Nitishji has to send the signal that he means what he says," said a JDU source who requested anonymity for obvious reasons.
Several JDU leaders this paper spoke to didn't appear convinced by the chief minister's words. "He is not the same Nitish Kumar of 2009," rued a JDU leader.
As the Congress knows only too well, Bhagalpur has the potential to change political fortunes.
"It took us around 25 years to win back Bhagalpur town after the 1989 communal riots. Ajit Sharma finally won in the 2014 (Assembly) bypoll," said Congress legislative wing chief Sadanand Singh.
Singh himself hails from Bhagalpur district and knows well the political fallout of the riots. Before 1989, the Congress was a major political player in the state and Singh was then a senior leader of the party. Now, the party is still struggling to revive itself though Singh himself managed to win the polls from Kahalgaon in 2010 and 2015.
After the Bhagalpur riots of 1989, the Muslims deserted the Congress and swayed towards Lalu Prasad. Thus was born the potent MY (Muslim-Yadav) combination which has kept Lalu and his party afloat even after more than a quarter of a century. The Congress, which was Lalu's political foe till 2000, still has to gain the complete trust of the minorities, once staunch backers of the party.
The damaging political implications of the Bhagalpur riots were once again felt after 2005 when chief minister Nitish constituted a commission to take a re-look at the old cases. With Nitish sustained efforts to get the riot victims and their families compensation, Lalu's votes among the Muslims showed signs of an erosion and in the 2010 Assembly elections, the NDA won 206 of the 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly.
