Mystery shrouds sponsor Alam Khan in Modi ad

SURAT: The issue of advertisements published in a section of newspapers in Bihar praising Chief Minister Narendra Modi and to highlight the status of Muslims in Gujarat, is getting curiouser and curiouser.
Apart from the controversy over a photograph of Muslim girls using computers and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar taking umbrage on being featured with Modi, the focus is now on unravelling the mystery of one of the sponsors mentioned in the Kumar-Modi advertisement.
The question being asked by Bihar police and the state's intelligence agencies is about Alam Khan — one of the sponsors — among 40 whose names have been carried in the Kumar-Modi advertisement. Of the sponsors, majority belong to Surat. Alam Khan's name figures along with six others from the minority community from Surat.
However, police here are believed to have traced all the sponsors in Surat, and all, but Alam Khan, belong to the local textile industry. Sources in the police department do, however, indicate that Alam Khan is from Siwan district of Bihar.
K K Sharma, president of Bihar Vikas Parishad, one of the organisations that paid for the now controversial advertisement, and director of local Indian Diamond Institute, said, "I don't know who this Alam Khan is. I don't know how the advertisement appeared in the newspapers with all these names. It is still a mystery to me and others from the parishad." Sharma's name also appeared in the advertisement as one of the sponsors.
Meanwhile, the local sponsors from minority community are a worried lot as they fear a backlash from their community members back home in Bihar, along with police action. "Now it is dangerous for us to go back to our home in Bihar following the Modi advertisement focusing on Muslims. Our names were used without showing us the advertisement material. Our family members back home in Bihar are also in danger," said one of the sponsors, whose name is mentioned in the advertisement.