UZ poll in Saidpur

Urdu used in campaign as Bihari voters emerge as decisive factor

18 January 2009, 18:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Nilphamari

Candidates for the posts of chairman and vice-chairman in Saidpur upazila are widely using Urdu in their campaign to woo Urdu speaking people, who comprise half of the voters in the upazila. Walking along the streets of Saidpur town, one would frequently hear loudspeakers announcements through Urdu. It is also being used for slogans in processions and in public speeches by the candidates who know well that Urdu speaking people, commonly known as Biharis, would play a decisive role in Saidpur upazila parishad election. However, no one from the Urdu speaking community is in the polls race from the upazila. Election office sources said that Saidpur upazila comprising five unions and one municipality has total 1,45,865 voters. Of them 69,419 voters are in Saidpur municipality. Most of the voters in the municipality area are Urdu speaking people commonly known as 'Biharis'. They constitute about 50 percent of the voters in the upazila. However, no one from the community is contesting for the posts of chairman or vice-chairman in the upcoming upazila parishad election. There are seven upazila chairman candidates, four vice-chairman candidates and five female vice-chairman candidates in Saidpur upazila. Most of them are leaders of Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party. Due to the conservative nature of the Biharis and the adverse situation they faced in the past, most of them remained uneducated and many of them cannot understand Bangla, the language of mainstream people. So most of the candidates for chairman and vice chairman posts in Saidpur are campaigning in Urdu. During a visit to different places in the municipality yesterday, this correspondent found that BNP leader Obaidur Rahman and Awami League leader Sakhawat Hossain, both candidates in the upazila election, were delivering their speeches in Urdu at separate public meetings. Both of them said there is no scope of division between Bangalees and Biharis over language issue as all are the citizens of Bangladesh. The upazila election candidates are seeking votes in Urdu in a bid to touch the hearts of the Biharis, said Col (retd) Maruf Saqlain, recently elected lawmaker from Nilphamari-4 (Saidpur and part of Kishoreganj). Most of the Biharis of Saidpur migrated to the then East Pakistan from India mostly from Bihar, Uttar Prodesh etc in the face of violent Hindu-Muslim riot following the emergence of Pakistan and India as independent states in 1947. During the War of Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, majority of the Urdu speaking people supported the atrocity of Pakistan occupation army and after the independence of Bangladesh most of them continued with their identity as Pakistanis. A section of them later migrated to Pakistan while the rest are still living in 21 refugee camps in Saidpur town as stranded Pakistanis. However, many of them then declared themselves as Bangladeshi citizens and received citizenship here. They, their descendents, and the children of stranded Pakistanis over 18 years of age who were born in Bangladesh have got the opportunity to become voters.