As the Bihar Assembly elections are underway, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi, on Saturday, November 8, questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the saffron party’s remark that “infiltrators” in the state are being used as a “vote bank” by political parties.

In an interview with NDTV, Owaisi said that Bihar has over 1 crore of migrant population. “Scores of youth migrate to other states in search of jobs. Why will outsiders come here? Yahaan koyi Khazaana hai kya? (Is there a gold rush in Bihar?” the Hyderabad MP said in an interview to NDTV.

He said that if the claim is true, then Union home minister Amit Shah, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are responsible for failing to control border migration.

The Union government controls the Border Security Force (BSF). The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is in power in Bihar and yet the BJP complains about infiltrators. “The Union government controls the Border Security Force (BSF). If some people are staying illegally in the state, as claimed by the Nitish Kumar government and the NDA, then they should show proof to the Election Commission. However, they were unable to prove,” the Hyderabad MP said.

In the 2020 Bihar Assembly Elections, the AIMIM won five seats in the Seemanchal region. However, four of the MLAs switched to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Govt has done nothing for Seemanchal

Owaisi claimed that the Bihar government has done nothing for the Seemanchal region, where a large Muslim population exists. “The Prime Minister says he built AIIMS and IITs in Patna, Darbhanga, and Bhagalpur, but he couldn’t say what he did in Araria, ” he added.

The Hyderabad MP said that since the Prime Minister couldn’t prove what he had done for the Araria district, nothing has changed in Seemanchal.

On the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi‘s claim of “vote chori“, Owaisi said there can be room for discrepancies. “We have an election cell that checks voter lists thrice, before and after name additions and during elections. Remember, you are contesting against the BJP. They can make you disappear even if you blink,” he said.

In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the AIMIM won five seats in the Seemanchal region. However, four MLAs switched to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).