Biharis to play 'decisive role' at Saidpur town

Urdu speaking voters, commonly known as Biharis, are likely to play the decisive role in the upcoming municipality election in Saidpur 'railway town' as the community constitutes about half of 70,706-strong electorate in the area.
This time seven candidates are contesting for the mayor post in Saidpur municipality comprising 15 wards.
They are Awami League leader Aktar Hossain Badal (symbol television), Awami League leader Hitler Chowdhury (symbol cup and plate), BNP leader Shahin Akhtar Shahin (symbol pineapple), BNP leader Amzan Hossain Sarker (symbol pen and ink pot), JP leader Siddiqul Alam Siddique (symbol telephone), Jobaidul Islam backed by Muktijoddha Punarbason Samity (symbol wall clock) and independent candidate Tawhid Imam Mukta (symbol) spectacles.
Besides, 84 candidates are contesting for 15 councillor seats and 26 female candidates are contesting for five reserved seats for women councillors.
Shahin Akhtar Shahin, a ward commissioner for two consecutive terms, is an influential Urdu speaking candidate for the mayoral post. He is also organising secretary of Saidpur upazila unit of BNP. Generally Bihari voters have liking for BNP as political party.
In the circumstances, Shahin Akhtar is seen as a strong candidate for the mayoral post.
“We will cast vote unitedly for the candidate who would safeguard the interest of our community,” said Abdur Rahim, 45, an Urdu speaking voter at Munshipara in Saidpur municipality.
On the other hand, Bangalee voters are divided into several groups, said Abdullahel Kafi, a voter in Nayatola area.
During the British period, Urdu speaking people from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of undivided India came to work at the large railway workshop at Saidpur. Many of them began to live in this town permanently even after their retirement.
A good number of Urdu speaking people also migrated from India, especially from Bihar, after partition of the sub-continent in 1947 to save their lives in the wake of violent communal riots there.
During our Liberation War in 1971, most of them supported the Pakistan government. Many of them even worked as accomplices of the Pakistan army in massacre, loot and rape against the Bangalee people.
After the independence, most of the Urdu speaking people at Saidpur declared themselves as Pakistani citizens and got their names listed with International Red Cross Society, indicating that they would like to go to Pakistan. They began to live in 21 refugee camps run by Red Cross at Saidpur, waiting for their repatriation.
They did not have voting rights in independent Bangladesh as they were not citizens of the country.
On the other hand, a good number of Biharis who accepted Bangladesh as their own land and became citizens here started enjoying voting rights as well as other rights like Bangla speaking citizens of the country.
Meanwhile, almost all successive Pakistani governments showed reluctance to repatriate the Urdu speaking community to that country, much to their frustration.
With the passage of time, the once adamant Urdu speaking people, especially their descendents, changed mind and started movement to be citizens of the country.
In connection with a writ petition filed by some Urdu speaking young men a couple of years ago, the High Court declared that Urdu speaking people who were born in this country after independence should be recognized as Bangladeshi citizens. Their voting rights were also granted.
Since then, the number of Urdu speaking voters in Saidpur municipality increased greatly and they emerged as the decisive factor in any kind of election -- parliamentary or local government.