CPI(ML) Liberation stages demonstration outside Bihar assembly over Waqf Bill

Patna: Members of the CPI(ML) Liberation on Monday staged a demonstration outside the Bihar assembly, on the first day of the winter session, seeking rollback of the contentious Waqf Bill which the Centre was likely to bring in Parliament.

CPI(ML) Liberation legislative party leader Mehboob Alam, who led the demonstration, urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to use his clout with the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and ensure withdrawal of the proposed legislation.

"All types of public properties used by Muslims - madrasas, kabristan, khanqah - belong to Wakf. The proposed bill is nothing short of a full-blown assault on the community by the ruling BJP at the Centre," alleged Alam.

"Tomorrow, we will bring an adjournment motion in the assembly", said the Left leader whose party is a part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc and has 11 members in the 243-strong assembly.

Replying to a query, he said the CPI(ML) Liberation believes Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's reported refusal to attend Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Arshad Madani's function here on Sunday was "due to personal engagements and not reflective of any change in ideology".

"But we are aware that the government at the Centre depends on the support of the chief minister's JD(U) for its survival. It is Nitish Kumar's moral duty to ensure that the Waqf Bill is stalled," he said.

Meanwhile, several leaders slammed the JD(U) over a statement given by its former president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, currently a union minister, about the minority community's voting behaviour.

In a speech at Muzaffarpur recently, the video clip of which has now gone viral, Lalan is seen saying, "the minority community votes for those parties which have never done anything for them. But Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is magnanimous enough to say that it is the government's duty to work for them even if they do not vote for us".

Condemning the remark, Congress legislative party leader Shakil Ahmed Khan asked, "How does Lalan know so precisely who votes for which party? Does he carry an X-ray machine? He is a small man who owes his rise to sycophancy".

State AIMIM president Akhtar Ul Iman said, "Lalan has shown his true colours by the divisive statement. Before ruing about Muslims not voting for JD(U), he should also admit the party's failure to support the community on issues like CAA and NRC."

JD(U) national general secretary and state minister Ashok Choudhary, however, sought to disagree with Lalan, saying "Muslims voted for us overwhelmingly in the recent by-poll, helping us win".

Notably, JD(U)'s Manorama Devi wrested the Belaganj assembly seat, an RJD bastion.

Former political strategist Prashant Kishor, whose Jan Suraaj had fielded a Muslim candidate, claimed that most votes of the community went to the JD(U), despite it being a BJP ally.