Bihar Election: Who's Saif Ali Khan, the 'Adivasi Muslim' Candidate in Manihari?

Accompanied by a Shershahbadi Muslim mukhiya (village head), a local tribal woman leader, his father, and a look-alike brother, Saif Ali Khan moved swiftly along the long embankment of the Ganga river in Katihar’s Amdabad — shaking hands, occasionally hugging people, and obliging every request for a selfie. In a rare instance, 28-year-old Saif is contesting the Bihar Assembly elections from Manihari in Katihar, a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). The only other constituency reserved for the ST community in Bihar is Katoria in Banka.Bihar has around 22 lakh tribal people across religions, accounting for 1.68 percent of the state’s total population.Saif belongs to the Banjara caste, which has a population of just 8,349 people and 1,596 families in Bihar, including both Hindus and Muslims, according to the 2022 Caste Census. But Saif believes the actual number is much higher. He said with regret that many in his community try to avoid the stigma associated with being identified as tribal.The Banjara community is listed as a Scheduled Tribe in Bihar and Jharkhand. Historically, they led a nomadic lifestyle, lived along roadsides in tents. But gradually, some began to settle by purchasing land.Saif’s family moved from Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya to Bihar’s Supaul, and finally settled in Araria in 1989.“Elders would sometimes scold me, saying we had successfully merged into the mainstream society with the Khan surname, and you are ruining it with your activism,” said Saif, a Psychology graduate.Muslims are elected from nine ST-reserved seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha constituency. But it is extremely rare to see a Muslim candidate from an ST-reserved seat in the Hindi heartland.“I don’t remember any such candidate in the last few decades, since I have been working among Pasmanda Muslims,” said Ali Anwar, former Rajya Sabha MP and founder of the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz.Manihari, located along the Jharkhand border, comprises Manihari, Mansahi and Amdabad community development blocks of Katihar. It has around 45 percent Muslims (mostly Shershahbadi Muslims) and 15 percent tribal population, according to recent estimates by local politicians. The constituency was reserved for STs during the 2008 delimitation. Mubarak Hussain, the tallest Shershahbadi Muslim leader in Seemanchal, was elected from Manihari four times before his death in 2006. In 2010, local Muslims projected Gita Kisku, a tribal woman married to a Muslim, as their candidate, but she lost by a narrow margin of 4,000 votes. Kisku is now supporting Saif. It’s been a long wait for local Muslims, and Saif’s candidacy has revived their hopes."Manihari is currently represented by former IPS officer Manohar Prasad Singh, who was elected on a Janata Dal (United) ticket in 2010 and has since been associated with the Congress for the last two elections.This time, there are seven candidates in the fray including incumbent MLA Manohar from Congress, JD(U)’s Shambhu Kumar Suman and Jan Suraaj Party’s Bablu Soren.“We didn’t even know a Muslim could contest from an ST-reserved seat. We had no idea a Muslim could be ST as well before Saif came here,” says Afsar Azad, a local, excitedly.“It was always there in the Constitution. Look at our condition, it took us 75 years to realise this. When I discovered it a few years ago, it felt as if the ground was slipping from under my feet,” said Saif, acknowledging the lack of awareness among Muslims on the issue.Saif hails from Forbesganj in Araria and began his political journey as a student leader at Forbesganj College. He began working in the Manihari constituency during the 2020 elections but was underage at the time. So he started preparing for 2025.He first tried to get a Congress ticket, then approached Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, followed by Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Finally, he joined Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party, where he emerged as a strong contender for a ticket.“A lobby worked against me, they couldn’t tolerate a tribal Muslim. I didn’t get the Jan Suraaj ticket just because I’m a Muslim,” Saif alleged.“During the scrutiny of nominations, mine was initially accepted. But two hours later, the Congress objected, calling my caste certificate fake. They produced a document showing my certificate had been rejected just days earlier. MLA Manohar Prasad Singh demanded an investigation and tried to get my nomination cancelled,” Saif adds.After an investigation, Saif’s nomination was finally accepted the next day. Septuagenarian Congress MLA Manohar Prasad Singh confirmed, “Yes, we objected to his nomination because his certificate had been rejected. But they said it was rejected by mistake.”Saif is contesting as a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate, a party once seen as the alter ego of Katihar MP Tariq Anwar in Seemanchal since its inception in 1999 until Anwar rejoined the Congress in 2018. The NCP had finished second in Manihari in the 2000, 2005 and 2010 elections. Saif is now trying to revive voter nostalgia associated with the party’s clock symbol.MLA Singh dismissed Saif’s challenge by linking him to the BJP. “Today’s NCP is an ally of the BJP in Maharashtra, so in a way, he is a BJP candidate. He’s been made to contest to divide Muslim votes and defeat me,” said Singh, who retired as Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Munger, before entering politics.“My opponents see me only as a Muslim, but they have an issue with my tribal identity. They think I’m not an original tribal,” said Saif, rejecting Singh’s claimed.Article 342 of the Constitution defines Scheduled Tribes without any reference to religion, unlike Article 341, which specifically excludes Muslims and Christians from the Scheduled Caste category.Former Rajya Sabha MP and founder of the United Muslim Morcha, Dr Ejaz Ali, called Saif’s candidature a positive development and blamed the Muslim leadership for failing to nurture a distinct tribal Muslim identity in Bihar and nearby regions.“When tribals in the Chota Nagpur Plateau converted to Islam, they began calling themselves Momin instead of tribal Muslims or tribal Momins and merged into different castes. But when these tribals converted to Christianity, they retained their distinct identity as tribal Christians. That was the failure of Muslim leadership then,” says Dr Ejaz, a Patna-based doctor known for charging only ₹10 per consultation.The Chota Nagpur Plateau region, spread across Jharkhand and parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, and Bihar, is home to a significant tribal population.This comes at a time when BJP leaders, including Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, have publicly demanded the delisting of tribals who convert to Christianity or Islam, calling such conversions illegal.But Dr Ejaz argued, “Don’t give ST status to those converting now, but at least recognise those who converted long ago.”“There are many Muslim castes like Bakkho, Madari, and Nat in Bihar who qualify for ST status but have been deprived of it. They should get their due,” added Ali Anwar.Reyazuddin Bakko, president of the Bihar Rajya Bakho Seva Samaj Sangh, has long been campaigning for his community’s inclusion in the ST list. “The Bakho community is tribal by nature, so it should be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes,” he said.The Bakkho population in Bihar stands at 36,830.“This is just the beginning. Even the Shershahbadi community has tribal roots. Many Muslim castes deserve ST status,” Saif said, walking briskly along the embankment of the Ganga to attend a janaza (funeral service of a Muslim) in a nearby village.

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Bihar Election: Who's Saif Ali Khan, the 'Adivasi Muslim' Candidate in Manihari?

'Many Muslim castes deserve ST status,' said Saif Ali Khan, who belongs to Banjara community. He is NCP's candidate.

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