Bihar Assembly polls: CPI(ML) candidate is fighting ‘big money’ with small donations

He may have declared assets of just ₹37,000 and is fighting the Bihar election with “small contributions of ₹10-20”, but the CPI (ML) Liberation candidate from Arrah, Quyamuddin Ansari, is confident that he will defeat “money power” and the “money lords” with the help of people.

Arrah is one of the two Assembly seats with the NDA in the Shahabad region of Bihar. Mr. Ansari lost against the BJP’s Amarendra Pratap Singh in the 2020 polls by a margin of 3,000 votes from here.

The leader, who comes from the backward Pasmanda Muslim community, says he is fighting the election with small donations from supporters. “Candidates in other parties have to pay money to fight elections. But here, people are supporting my campaign,” he said.

The BJP has fielded Sanjay Singh ‘Tiger’ from the seat this time.

The 50-year-old CPI(ML) leader joined politics as a student and has been an activist ever since. “I am from a poor, backward family. My father did not own any land. My wife is an Anganwadi worker,” Mr. Ansari said.

Taking a swipe at the BJP and echoing the INDIA bloc’s “vote chori” campaign, he said, “Our opponents are rich. The political party fighting against us is stealing votes. While on the one side, there is money power, on the other side are the people who make small contributions of ₹10-20. I am fighting this election with that money,” he said, adding, “People have decided that they will defeat the money lords this time.”

Mr. Ansari said wherever he goes, he spreads a “towel in front of the people, and they contribute”.

“They know that this party survives on their support,” he said, adding that people also “feed us and our supporters, and also come out to seek votes for me”.

This is the third time Mr. Ansari is contesting from Arrah. In 2015, he got around 5,000 votes and lost out narrowly in 2020. This time, he is confident that the NDA would not win a single seat in the Shahabad region.

“The people of Arrah do not see me as a defeated candidate. This time, the people have decided that they will teach the vote thieves, the job thieves, the treasury thieves, the land thieves a lesson,” he said.

The Shahabad region includes four districts – Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas and Kaimur. Together, there are 22 Assembly seats, of which the NDA had won only two last time – Arrah and Barhara – with both going to the BJP.

Mr. Ansari stressed that education and employment are the most important issues that the incumbent government has “failed” to address.

“It has been 20 years of the Nitish Kumar government. A child who was born when he came to power is a youth now, looking for a job. This government has failed in providing employment,” he said.

He said employment is the main poll promise of the Opposition alliance.

“In 2020, we promised 10 lakh jobs and Nitish Kumar made fun of that. But then he saw the anger of the people and promised 19 lakh jobs. When we were in power for 17 months, we gave employment to 5 lakh youth,” he said.