What is the strategy behind bringing Arif Mohammad Khan from Kerala to Bihar?

Arif Mohammad Khan. (File photo)

On Tuesday December 24 ,2024 the central government suddenly appointed Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan as the Governor of Bihar. Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar has been sent to Kerala. However, along with this, former Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla has been appointed Governor of Manipur, General VK Singh of Mizoram, Hari Babu of Odisha. Among all these decisions, the most discussed decision is about bringing Arif Mohammad Khan to Bihar. In a way, this is a promotion for Arif Mohammad Khan. Because he has got another term as Governor. Arif Mohammad Khan is one of the few Muslim personalities of the country who are getting importance in the current BJP government. The question does not arise that why BJP likes Arif Mohammad Khan so much, more important is why he has been brought to Bihar. Because in the Modi-Shah era, the party does not move even a leaf without any reason.

1- Is there an attempt to end the anti-Muslim image in the Bihar assembly elections?

The first reason people are giving for bringing Arif Mohammad Khan to Bihar is that by making Khan the governor, BJP is trying to woo around 17 percent of the Muslims of the state. But this argument is very superficial. Because the Muslims of the country consider Arif Mohammad Khan to be a progressive Muslim who is a supporter of BJP. In such a situation, which Muslim will vote for BJP because of Arif Mohammad Khan. If BJP had made a fundamentalist Muslim the governor, then perhaps it was possible that some percent of Muslims would have seen their future in BJP. Due to this progressiveness of Arif Mohammad Khan, his political career ended. Due to making a law against the court’s decision in the Shah Bano case, he left Congress and joined Vishwanath Pratap Singh. But Vishwanath Pratap Singh also soon started doing politics of Muslim appeasement due to vote bank. Therefore, Arif Mohammad Khan became untouchable for him too. Therefore, it would not be right to say that with his arrival some Muslims in Bihar will be happy with BJP.

2- Is there a message to be given to Nitish Kumar?

Some political analysts believe that in the future, BJP will have a fight with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for seats. Nitish Kumar will want his party JDU to get tickets in all Muslim-dominated areas. But before the victory of Kundarki in the Uttar Pradesh assembly by-elections, BJP has already won Muslim-dominated seats like Azamgarh and Rampur in the Lok Sabha elections. Due to this, BJP will want its candidates to show their prowess in Muslim-dominated areas in Bihar as well. BJP will also say on the pretext of Arif Mohammad Khan that it is not an enemy of Muslims. It is also possible that just to put pressure on Nitish Kumar, BJP may say that it wants to field its candidates on Muslim seats as well, so that BJP can increase its numbers on other seats.

3- Is Nitish unable to control RJD?

The BJP government at the centre may also want a smart person to stop the arbitrary behaviour of the main opposition party of the state, RJD. Nitish Kumar is unable to do this. Firstly, he has become weak and secondly, he is so close to the Lalu family that he is unable to take hard decisions against this family. Arif Mohammad Khan is an expert in this work. While in Kerala, he had made PR Vijayan’s life difficult many times. BJP will now want to use him in Bihar.

4-Situation after 2025 assembly elections

BJP will not be very confident about the 2025 assembly elections. Anyway, BJP and Nitish Kumar had almost lost the last election in Bihar. Another thing is that after the elections in Bihar, the parties of the alliance can shift here and there. In all this, the role of the governor becomes very important. For this, an expert governor was needed who has an understanding of the Constitution and the politics of Bihar. In all these matters, Arif Mohammad Khan is much better than Arlekar. Arif Mohammad Khan is old but is as active as young people are not. He also has the ability to interpret the Constitution according to his own wishes, which can be useful for BJP in difficult times.