Congress party has stirred up a massive political row by fielding former Aligarh Muslim University Students Union (AMUSU) President Dr. Maskoor Ahmad Usmani from Jale constituency in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. Usmani, who has a sedition case registered against him, had protested in support of hanging of the portrait of Pakistan’s founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the AMU campus.
Congress denied ticket to former Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra’s grandson Rishi Mishra who joined Congress after leaving Janata Dal (United) to field Usmani from the Jale constituency. Miffed by the denial of ticket, Mishra called Usmani a follower of Jinnah who put Jinnah’s portrait in his office. He said that he would have been okay if someone else would have received the ticket instead of Usmani.
It’s a cruel joke. I left JD(U) to contest from Jale. I would’ve been okay if someone else got ticket but they gave it to a Jinnah follower who has sedition case against him. He (Congress candidate Maskoor Usmani) puts Jinnah’s photo in his office: Rishi Mishra, Congress #Bihar https://t.co/Tcc3kqW9zN pic.twitter.com/9juWLcTiEi
— ANI (@ANI) October 16, 2020
Launching a scathing attack on Bihar Congress President Madan Mohan Jha, Mishra said that Jha and Congress President Sonia Gandhi who decided the ticket should explain why they gave the ticket to Usmani. He added that Congress was Gandhi’s ideology party and it should not be made Jinnah’s ideology party. He said that the Jinnah’s photo could not be kept in Gandhi’s country.
BJP leader and Member of Parliament Giriraj Singh also took a dig at the Congress party for fielding Usmani in Bihar Assembly elections. He asked the party and the Mahagathbadhan to answer whether their candidate from Jale constituency supported Jinnah.
Congress & Mahagathbandhan leaders have to answer the country if the Jale candidate supports Jinnah. Congress & Mahagathabndhan have to tell if they also support Jinnah? Will Sharjeel Imam be their star campaigner?: Giriraj Singh, BJP on Congress candidate Maskoor Usmani#Bihar pic.twitter.com/NrzHNKv8hY
— ANI (@ANI) October 16, 2020
Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Singh asked the Congress party and the Mahagathbandhan to clarify whether they also supported Jinnah. He questioned whether the party will make Delhi riots accused Sharjeel Imam their star campaigner.
Usmani claims ‘moral victory’ before elections
Responding to the criticism against his candidature from Jale constituency, Usmani said that it his candidature has given a moral defeat to the people opposing him.
#Breaking #Exclusive | Maskoor Usmani speaks up on his candidature from Jale constituency in Bihar.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) October 16, 2020
‘There should be a positive competition’, he says.
Details by Samia. | #CongFieldsKhalidBacker #Nov10WithTimesNow pic.twitter.com/YZCL55LbYI
Usmani said that Tejashwi Yadav was the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Mahagathbandhan and that he supported his leadership. He thanked Sonia Gandhi for putting faith in him.
Who is Maskoor Usmani
Maskoor Ahmad Usmani entered student politics in 2016 and became the president of the AMUSU in 2017. He had protested in support of Jinnah’s portrait in the AMU and even written to the President of India seeking his intervention in the year 2018. Usmani had also fervently opposed the CAA and the NRC.
