Patna: Denial of Congress ticket to former Railways Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra’s grandson Rishi Mishra to contest in the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections has fuelled a rebellion against the grand old party as he termed the Jale constituency candidate of the party, Dr Maskoor Ahmad Usmani, as “anti-national and Jinnah worshipper”.
Congress has given Jale constituency ticket to former President of Aligarh Muslim University Student’s Union Dr Maskoor Ahmad Usmani who has a sedition case registered against him.
In 2019, Usmani was booked under sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-national slogans. In 2020, Twitter suspended his official account for criticising the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on the arrest of Safoora Zargar and Meeran Haider.
“I do not have any regret that I did not get the ticket they could have given to someone else but I was hurt that they had given a ticket to Jinnah worshipper, who has a photo of Jinnah in his office. He also has a sedition case and he is out on bail,” Rishi Mishra told ANI here.
Mishra also launched a scathing attack on Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha.
“Madan Mohan Jha said that Sonia Gandhi decided the names. Congress is Gandhi’s ideology party, do not make it Jinnah ideology. We can not have Jinnah’s photo in Gandhi’s country. This will give the wrong impression to people about the party. Jha and Sonia Ji should explain why the ticket was given to him. He should give resignation,” he said.
A resident of Darbhanga, Bihar, Usmani proactively protested against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). In December 2017, Usmani defeated Ajay Singh by 6,719 votes and was elected as a president of the Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union.
Mishra’s grandfather Lalit Narayan Mishra was one of the tallest Congress leaders from the state in the 1970s. LN Mishra, who was the then Railways Minister, had died in a bomb blast at a railway station in Samastipur district in 1975.
Mishra’s assassination was followed by the political advent of his younger brother Jagannath Mishra, who became the Chief Minister within a few months of the elder siblings killing.
LN Mishra’s son Vijay Kumar Mishra, Rishi’s father, who had represented Darbhanga Lok Sabha seat between 1984 and 1989 as a Lok Dal MP, has been an MLC nominated by the JD(U) since 2014.
Rishi Mishra had contested unsuccessfully from Jale segment in Darbhanga district in the 2015 assembly polls, a year after he had grabbed the seat in a by-election. He had lost the seat to Jibesh Kumar of the BJP.
Assembly elections in Bihar will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and 7. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.