The border is never too far away in Seemanchal, with Bangladesh through West Bengal and with Nepal. You see it in the Bengali on signboards, and hear it in the frequent use of the term “khela (game)” in conversations with voters who speak the “Surjapuri” dialect, a blend of Bengali, Hindi and Urdu. This region is also home to large Muslim populations — rising from Purnea’s 39 per cent to about 68 per cent in Kishanganj.Seemanchal’s four districts of Purnea, Kishanganj, Araria and Katihar have been seen to hold up Muslim support for the Congress and the RJD’s famed M-Y formula — until they didn’t. In the 2020 assembly elections, Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM’s surprise victories in five seats all came in this region, contributing to the BJP-led NDA’s upper hand in Seemanchal and in Bihar. Of the region’s 24 seats in the outgoing House, other than Owaisi’s five, 12 were with the NDA — eight with BJP, four with JD(U) — and the Mahagathabandhan had seven (Congress 5, one each with RJD and CPI(M-L).Come to this region to get a sense of how this arithmetic was upset and its fallout. Come for a glimpse of the assertion of a new force that claims to be of, by and for the minority, and also a sense of its limits — four of the five victorious AIMIM MLAs crossed over to the RJD subsequently. Come here, too, to listen in to fragments of a debate on a larger issue in a diverse democracy — whether Muslims must vote for, whether they need, a “Muslim” party.Also Read | P Chidambaram writes: Will Bihar escape its self-made traps?Opening up the conversationThere is more room to debate this question in a region like Seemanchal, arguably, because here the minority community does not feel constantly besieged and cornered numerically. It, therefore, does not feel as pushed to take sides unquestioningly — either with the “secular” RJD-Congress combine, or, less so, with Nitish’s JD(U), which is seen to have kept communal conflict at bay notwithstanding its alliance with the minority-baiting BJP. Here, some tough and pointed questions are being asked of both sides. The advent of a new party has introduced a new sense of options that helps in the articulation of those questions — the new party being the AIMIM primarily. By and large, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj is seen here, as elsewhere in the state, as much too new and untested, even though many say that Kishor raises important issues and talks of the right things.But if the new party has helped open up the political conversation, the BJP’s “ghuspaithiya (illegal immigrant)” campaign casts a shadow over it.In Jhanda Chowk in Line Bazaar, Manoj Kumar Shah underlines the spectre of take-over by the foreigner: “Ghuspaithiya bhara hua hai, Bangladeshi… hum log dekhte hain na (there are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants everywhere, we can see…)”. A stone’s throw away, in Kabristan Chowk, Kaisar, who makes school uniforms, counters: “Who is the ghuspaithiya? If a foreigner comes to our home, will we not know, will we not report him? Everyone goes to everyone when local elections are held… Hamaari bhi zimmedari hai na (it is also our responsibility), to find out more if someone new comes”.Shadaab, who works in the medical sector, says: “In 1971, many came here as refugees, they were given land by the government to set up refugee colonies, they are Bengali-speaking …” In any case, says Kausar, “For 11 years, it is the Narendra Modi government that has ruled the Centre. If there are ghuspaithiye, then it is the government’s failure, isn’t it?” In Chhoti Masjid Mohalla, “The Home Minister must answer”, says Mohammad Sabir Ansari, who works in an electronics shop. “What was the border security force doing? This is just an election issue…” And in Miya Bazaar, Mohammad Afzal Husain says: “Jaise barsaat mein mendhak taayen taayen karte hain (like frogs croaking in the rain)… They (BJP) can’t say Muslim, so they say ghuspaithiya. The Muslim is being renamed ghuspaithiya. We understand fully”.Story continues below this adMust Read | Why ‘jungle raj’ casts a long shadow over the RJDIn these parts, the SIR’s revision of electoral rolls on poll-eve, for all the scramble and messiness — “jo zinda hai usko maar diya, jo murda hai usko zinda kar diya (the poll revision exercise resurrected the dead and excluded names of the living)” — is invoked not as proof of deliberate disenfranchisement, but to make the case for the hollowness and bad faith of the BJP’s poll-eve “ghuspaithiya” politics. The deletion of names, wherever it has happened, is being blamed on administrative lapses, which, many say, will be corrected.“But did the SIR turn up evidence of the ghuspaithiya? Bangladeshi hain toh nikaalo (show us if the SIR has revealed the presence of any illegal Bangladeshis), hum bhi yehi chahte hain (this is what we want) that they should go”, is the refrain.In Baisi, where the AIMIM won last time, and where its winning MLA crossed over to the RJD subsequently, the conversation in the chai shop turns to the “Muslim” party.“Last time we voted to change the MLA, bring in the AIMIM, but we did not succeed”, says Mohammad Ghiasuddin, a farmer, referring to the AIMIM MLAs who crossed over to the RJD. This time, he says, Nitish’s silence on the Waqf law, apart from corruption, price rise and unemployment, not necessarily in that order, is propelling the stirrings for a change of government.Story continues below this adNitish Kumar, many say, brought development in the state in never-before ways, but his government caved in to BJP pressures and lost its way, as was evident by his silence or acquiescence in the passing of the Waqf bill. Many here who say they voted for Nitish last time, will choose the Mahagathbandhan of Congress and RJD in this election. Congress, a waxing and waning presence on the ground elsewhere in the state, seems to swim into steady focus in Seemanchal on the back of visible support and goodwill for Rahul Gandhi. “Bade neta hain Rahul, facts ki baat karte hain, secular baat karte hain (Rahul talks of facts, is secular)…. He is not jaativaadi (parochial)”, they say.Minority needs the ‘mainstream’Back in the chai shop in Baisi, Mohammad Moin, farmer, says that despite his inability to hold on to his MLAs, Owaisi’s attraction lies in the fact that “he speaks for Muslims” while Tejashwi’s RJD takes the Muslim vote but denies fair representation to the community. “Wherever they put up a Yadav candidate, the RJD speaks of the M-Y sameekaran (configuration), and where the candidate is a Muslim, the Yadavs vote as Hindus for the BJP”.Don't Miss | ‘Being called a Bihari used to be an insult; now it’s an honour’: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in pre-poll video message | WATCHBut, asks Aslam, a ward member, “What will it mean, even if we ask for our proportionate share of tickets and seats, MlAs and MPs? Can we make a government on our own? Won’t we still have to tie up with others?” More Muslims will need to vote for the RJD this time, he says, if they don’t want the RJD to give up on the community, because a mainstream party giving up on the Muslim vote will not be a good thing.Aslam speaks of Muslim participation in the political “mainstream”, as reality and necessity. The BJP could not have achieved its present dominance without it, he says. “Did you (BJP) rule for 20 years with Nitish in Bihar without our support? Muslim vote is not one-sided, so why does BJP not give tickets to Muslims?”Story continues below this adMuslims, just like others, are not a monolith and, like others, want to be part of all ruling arrangements, he says. One-sidedness is being imposed on the community: “Our workers are in every party. Ham aapko vote dena chahte hain, (Muslims are ready to vote BJP) but you give tickets to every caste, from Kushwahas to Sahanis, not to us… And it is not as if all Hindus vote for you, they also support leaders like Rahul and Lalu. Aap ticket deke dekhiye, phir dekhiye khela (Give tickets to Muslims and see how the game changes)”, he dares the BJP.In Kishanganj’s Churipatti bazaar, Sanaur Rashid, a businessman, says: “Owaisi sahib has both helped us and hurt us. He has given us a new option and dented our feeling of helplessness. But his supporters are often ugra (aggressive), jamhooriyat ke liye nuksaan hai (which is not good for a democracy).”In a motorcycle repair shop in the LRP Chowk of Bahadurganj, Shamsher Alam, a salesman, says: “What the BJP has done with Hindus, we in Kishanganj should not do with Muslims. The MIM says that Muslims did not get the deputy CM post in the Mahagathbandhan, even though they are 18 per cent of the population (in the state), while the Sahanis, a far smaller number, did … But we should not be talking of 2 per cent versus 18 per cent. We need to talk for all, about unemployment, about the economy, health and education.”If Muslims talk of coming together as 18 per cent to get a Muslim CM or Deputy CM, he asks, “are we then going to be okay with Hindus voting as 82 per cent? If Hindus are a smaller number here, then we must remember that they have relatives living and working in other places, who will be affected by what happens in Kishanganj … Hindustan ki fiza khatre mein hai (the very air is under threat)”.Story continues below this adWhether Seemanchal tilts towards the RJD this time because Nitish is seen as a figure overshadowed and diminished by the BJP, or not, whether Owaisi is able to cut into the Mahagathbandhan votes like he did last time or not, voices on the ground suggest an opening up of larger and difficult conversations, and of the minority’s poise and equanimity. They speak, also, of the so-called border’s defiance of its traditional pigeonholing by the so-called mainstream.