Political activist Prashant Kishor announced Sunday that his political initiative, Jan Suraaj, will field a substantial number of Muslim candidates in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections scheduled for next year.
Kishor, founder of the Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), dismissed accusations that his strategy was aimed at “splitting” the Muslim vote and criticised the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the BJP’s main rival in the state.
“We plan to allocate at least 40 tickets to Muslim candidates in the 243-member assembly. The Muslim community will also be well-represented in the organization’s leadership,” Kishor told reporters in Patna.
He made these comments following a symposium on “The Participation of Muslims in Politics,” organized by Jan Suraaj, which is set to become a formal political party on October 2.
Kishor highlighted that the current assembly has only 19 Muslim members, despite Muslims making up about 20 per cent of Bihar’s population. He criticised the RJD, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), and the Congress for their lack of representation.
Refuting RJD’s claim that his outreach to Muslims was intended to divide their vote and aid the BJP, Kishor challenged the RJD to prove its commitment to the community.
“If the RJD truly champions the community, they should nominate a sufficient number of Muslim candidates. If they do, Jan Suraaj will avoid fielding Muslim candidates in those constituencies and will instead select Hindu candidates,” Kishor said.