Patna,(BiharTimes): Though Parween Amanullah was the first Muslim woman to become minister in Bihar she is the first person to quit the Nitish Kumar cabinet after the split with the BJP on June 16 last.
When he decided to snap ties with the BJP the Bihar chief minister had the Muslim votes in the mind. But Parween’s resignation from the cabinet on the eve of the Lok Sabha election may amount to throwing cold water into Nitish’s gameplan, even though it is also a fact that she is not a mass leader.

Her decision to quit came after the Janata Dal (United) decided to drop three sitting Rajya Sabha MPs––one of them, Sabir Ali, a Muslim. But Nitish compensated it by sending Kahkashan Parween to the Upper House of Parliament.

The resignation came as a bolt from the blue. It was somewhat different from the summary dismissal of Jamshed Ashraf, who was sacked in Feb 2010, a few months before the Assembly poll of that year. Ashraf had handed over a letter to the chief minister on Jan 14, 2010 (Makarsankranti Day) cabinet meeting on M V Ganga drawing his attention towards a big scam in the excise department, the portfolio looked after by him.

Nitish was upset by this daring behaviour of his minister. But for a few weeks he tolerated this. When a newspaper published the letter on its front-page in February the Bihar chief minister did not spare him this time. He sacked Jamshed Ashraf who was then in Chennai.

But Parween did not give any such opportunity to Nitish. She quit on her own. Incidentally, she contested the election from Sahabpur-Kamal in Begusarai, the home district of Jamshed Ashraf. In Patna both Parween and Jamshed Ashraf use to live in Patliputra Colony.

Her resignation has sparked off speculations. There is a possibility that she may join Aam Admi Party, as she had hinted. As an RTI activist she had worked with Arvind Kejriwal and others too. But the question is: after having served in the Nitish cabinet is she as clean as to fit the criteria of AAP? Or at least what it claims. Charges were levelled against her on BIADA land deal.

Besides, till now no serving minister anywhere in the country has quit her or his post to join the AAP. Still many political observers feel that she may be a better choice for AAP to put up as a candidate in the coming Lok Sabha election.

Another possibility doing the rounds is that she might cross over to RJD or even the Congress party. But it does not appear to be so as her family never had so close relationship with the RJD, though her husband, Afzal Amanullah, was a senior secretary (health for example) when Rabri Devi was the chief minister. He had also served as DM and at other posts during the rule of Lalu Yadav and later in 1990s went to Jeddah to serve as Consul General.

Parween’s father, Syed Shahabuddin, former diplomat, was among the founder of Samata Party in 1994. However, he and former chief minister, Abdul Ghafoor, left the party only when the Samata Party decided to join hands with the BJP in 1996.

It is true Parween has the ambition to move to Delhi as her husband is parliamentary affairs secretary. He sees better post-retirement prospect in the national capital. So she too was keen to be sent to Rajya Sabha. After being ignored by the Janata Dal (United) she may certainly explore the possibility to contest Lok Sabha election on any other party ticket.

The family is not too close to the Congress either though Syed Shahabuddin had a brief stay in the party a few years back (April 2004 to May 2007).

However, in politics nothing is impossible.

How credible Jamshed Ashraf, Sabir Ali and Parween Amanullah are is not the question here. What is more important is that it has certainly sent the message in the community that Nitish will never tolerate any Muslim leader who tries to assert even a little bit. He chose Kahkashan over Sabir Ali––or even Ghulam Rasool Baliyawi––as she would be no match to them.

The truth is that Nitish is accused of being intolerant by many others too––not just Muslims.

Anyway the resignation of Parween came at a very inopportune time for Nitish. It was on Tuesday itself that Raja Peter, the Jharkhand unit chief of Janata Dal (United) resigned from his post. Raja Peter has the distinction of defeating the then chief minister Shibu Soren in Assembly by-election from Tamar in Jan 2009. Peter was then in Jharkhand Party.