CALCUTTA, 14 May 2004 — Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, the sole Muslim minister in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government, lost the Kishanganj parliamentary seat to Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Muhammad Taslimuddin by a significant margin. Hussain, federal minister for textiles, had taken the seat from Taslimuddin in 1999.
The result has serious implications as the Kishanganj electorate is predominantly Muslim. It has the highest concentration of Muslim voters in the country — around 66 percent — outside the Indian-administered provinces of Jammu and Kashmir.
Five years ago, Hussain became the first BJP candidate to win the seat.
Analysts said Hussain’s defeat was inevitable after the February-March 2002 state-sponsored massacre of over 2,000 Muslims and destruction of their homes, businesses and mosques in BJP-ruled Gujarat.
Muslims urged Hussain to leave the BJP in protest against the anti-Muslim violence but he refused to quit his ministerial post, angering Muslims across the country.
Hussain was one of the 10 Muslims fielded by the pro-Hindu BJP across the country. The fate of the others is not yet clear.
Hussain was supported in his campaign by Vajpayee and BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu but he faced hostile Muslims wherever he canvassed votes in the sprawling constituency along the India-Bangladesh border in Bihar.
Hussain’s rallies were often disrupted and the police had to rescue him three times. He was advised by the administration to take precautions for his personal safety.
His argument that there were “100 mini-Gujarats” during Congress rule since independence failed to win over voters while his rival, Taslimuddin, focused on the Gujarat carnage and the systematic marginalization of Muslims under BJP rule.
Since 1952, only Muslims candidates have won the Kishanganj seat with the exception of Lakhan Lal Kapur who was elected on a Socialist Party ticket in 1967.
