Rajasthan Election 2023: At a society panchayat in Bharatpur’s Ghatmeeka village, Mohammad Jabir,a cousin of Nasir Junaid had a public confrontation with Kaman MLA Zahida Khan and Rajasthan Minister of State in February.
The meeting was about horrifying the murders of Nasir and Junaid, the two men killed by cow vigilantes in February.
As per the reports their burnt dead bodies were found in Loharu in Haryana’s Bhiwani district. Zahida on the other hand was telling the family members of the families to bury the bodies, but the family denied it.
Jabir, a cousin of Nasir Junaid, said the bodies would not be laid to rest until Monu Manesar, one of the men charged with murdering the duo, was arrested.
Manesar has been arrested in a Rajasthan jail in connection with the case since September.
“How many more will die first, Umar Mohammad, Rakbar Khan, Pehlu Khan, and now Nasir and Junaid?” Jabir said at the panchayat on February 17.
Approximately Nine months later, Jabir does not mince his words as he stands near the stopgap election office of Mukhtiyar Ahmad, a CA who is facing off in the November 25 polls as an Independent after being denied an assembly election ticket by the Congress.
The Congress party has once again nominated sitting MLA Zahida from Kaman.
Zahida Khan did not aid us during the Nasir-Junaid murder case. When family members opposed it, the Congress government hit us. We will have to overcome this dictator. The public wants an MLA who sides with the biradari (community) and not the government.
Jabir is now working to campaign for Ahmad, whom the regional Meo community believes helped the family members of Nasir and Junaid as they urged action.
As Zahida is facing severe opposition among sections of the community in Kaman, the Congress only declared her name in its last candidate list, released a day before the nominations of the assembly election were about to get close.
The primary contest is seen as between Zahida, Ahmad, and the BJP’s Nauksham Chaudhary. The AIMIM has nominated Imran Nawab.
Another reason for the opposition against Zahida is the power of her family in the region. Zahida's son and daughter are both pradhans of the panchayat samiti, while her husband had worked as one.
Javed Khan, from Zahida’s camp while sitting with Congress workers, says the “Nasir-Junaid case has been used to polarize voters”.
Kaman has approximately 2.55 lakh Muslim voters. Meo Muslims constitute 58 per cent of this number.
