What is being ignored amidst the larger-than-life presence of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen supremo, Asaduddin Owaisi, is the manner in which some local strongmen, contractors, builders, big businessmen etc. have either got elected or have even lost on his party’s ticket in the recently held Bihar election. As these rich and powerful figures, especially from Seemanchal region, no more want to be controlled by any national or regional party of Bihar, deemed it fit to try their luck by contesting as the candidates of Hyderabad-based outfit. Perhaps, in the name of Muslim community leadership they think that working with AIMIM would provide them a free hand.
Ironically, almost all those who contested as AIMIM nominees were in one way or the other associated with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress or even Janata Dal (United) in the past. A couple of them jumped on the AIMIM bandwagon in the last minute after being denied ticket by other parties.
While discussing the poverty of the common masses and backwardness of this flood-prone region of north-east Bihar one often fails to take into account the fact that the politics in this part of the state, as elsewhere, is dominated by influential and affluent landed and business class. As Kishanganj is the lone Muslim-majority district of the state and Araria, Katihar and Purnia have substantial population of the community, over the decades the region has elected several legislators and members of Parliament. This led to the gradual emergence of dominant families belonging to different social groups of Muslims.
No room for outsiders
Gone are the days for carpetbaggers like Lakhan Lal Kapoor, Mohammad Yunus Saleem, Syed Shahabuddin, M. J. Akbar and Syed Shahnawaz Husain to represent the region in Lok Sabha. In contrast the well-off gentry who have over the years expanded their business to other parts of Bihar, neighbouring districts of West Bengal and even Delhi and other metros, have grown politically ambitious. So, have the returnees from Gulf and other countries, who too exploit the slogan of empowerment of the community for their own end.
Curiously, the resistance to outsiders is growing so strong that even state AIMIM president Akhtar-ul-Iman had to face opposition as he contested and finally won for the second time from Amour which actually falls in Purnia district in the same Seemanchal while he himself hails from neighbouring Kishanganj district. He had registered victory as RJD candidate from here in 2005 and 2010, but shifted to Amour in 2020.
The role of money power can be gauged from the fact that a prominent builder and hotel and hospital-owner from Patna having roots in a political family of Araria threw his hat on AIMIM ticket from this Assembly seat. He made last minute entry into the party after he lost hope of getting Congress ticket, though he was close to some state party top brass. The person in question, Manzoor Alam, who started his career as an engineer, however, lost to the candidate of the same Congress party.
But Murshid Alam, the newly-elected Jokihat MLA of AIMIM, is luckier as he trounced heavyweights in his constituency. A successful businessman he not only got ticket from Owaisi but managed to defeat the Janata Dal (United) candidate Manzar Alam by a comfortable margin of 28,803 votes. What is strange is that the two sons of now late former Union minister Mohammad Taslimuddin, were pushed to third and fourth places. The elder one Sarfaraz Alam contested on Jan Suraaj Party ticket while younger brother Shahnawaz Alam was the candidate of Rashtriya Janata Dal. It needs to be reminded that Sarfaraz had in 2018 won Araria Lok Sabha seat on RJD ticket after the death of his father while Shahnawaz got elected as AIMIM candidate in 2020. The latter however crossed over to RJD in 2022. The miserable performance of the two exposes the weakening grip of the family of Taslimuddin.
Murshid upset the apple cart as he has his own strong clout in Jokihat where the electorate were reportedly tired of ensuring the victory of either of the two sons of Taslimuddin, who during his life time enjoyed the reputation of being a strongman. Murshid was a mukhiya and two of his close relatives have got elected to this post in the last rural bodies election—one of them is his wife.
The case of another victorious AIMIM candidate, Tauseef Alam from Bahadurganj is somewhat different. According to sources Akhtar ul Iman was initially not very inclined to induct him into the party because of his questionable record. But Alam finally joined it in April 2025. He had first won election as Independent in February 2005 at the age of 25 years. However, in another election held the same year he won on Congress party ticket. He returned to Assembly as Congress nominee in 2010 and 2015, before losing in 2020.
He got married in 2013 and the guest included chief minister Nitish Kumar and the then leader of Congress legislature party, Sadanand Singh. He brought his bride Tarana Asfi from village for wedding function on a private helicopter. The news was highlighted in the media. She is the daughter of Izhar Asfi, who won on AIMIM ticket from Kochadhaman in 2020. In 2022 the latter was among the four party MLAs who crossed over to RJD.
Whatever may be his father-in-law’s political position now, Tauseef recently hit the headline when he used threatening language against RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav after the latter, had in an interview, called Asaduddin Owaisi an extremist. Alam, while addressing an election meeting, thundered that he would take out Tejashwi’s eyes, and cut his finger and tongue for daring to speak such language against Owaisi.
The two other who won on the tickets of Owaisi’s party too have political background, before AIMIM emerged here. They are Sarwar Alam from Kochadhaman in Kishanganj and Ghulam Sarwar from Baisi in Purnia district. They have climbed up the ladder through the local bodies election and enjoy considerable influence of their own. Their close relatives too were either associated with RJD or Congress.
Rest of Bihar
Outside Seemanchal the AIMIM distributed tickets not to loyal and penniless foot-soldiers dedicated to the cause of community, but mostly to anyone having money or muscle power. Interestingly, not all of them were Muslims. Though all the nominees outside Seemanchal lost. Shan Ali Khan is a classic example. The party’s candidate from Sherghati in Gaya district, earned his notoriety in 1990s when he emerged as a leading light of the Sunlight Sena, a private terror group of landed upper castes, mostly Rajputs (Hindu) and some Paithans (Muslim) of central Bihar—Jharkhand was then part of the state.
Shan Ali has spent time in jail as he was accused of several murders, including that of the station house officer of Kothi police station under Gaya district, Qayamuddin Ansari, in October 2016. Though Shan Ali suffered a humiliating setback in the recently held election he ensured the defeat of RJD candidate at the hand of Lok Janshakti Party nominee. After all, ensuring defeat of Grand Alliance candidates in fray was the primary motive of Asaduddin Owaisi. He succeeded in his objective.
The tragic victim of Owaisi’s own brand of politics is street-fighter and four-time MLA, Mehboob Alam of CPI ML (Liberation) from Balrampur in Katihar district. Though AIMIM’s Adil Hasan did not win, he succeeded in pushing Mehboob Alam, a down-to-earth man, to third place.
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