Ranchi, May 22 (IANS): Congress MLA from Jamtara, Irfan Ansari stoked a controversy after he described Mahagama assembly constituency in Godda district of Jharkhand as a 'mini Pakistan'.

Ansari said in a statement that if BJP MP Nishikant Dubey is to be defeated in Godda Lok Sabha constituency, then a Muslim candidate will have to be fielded from here.

"Everyone knows that Madhupur, Jarmundi, Mahagama and Godda have a large number of Muslim voters. Mahagama area is called mini Pakistan because of the large population of Muslims," Ansari added.

Soon after the Congress MLA made the remark, the BJP took a dig at him. Godda MP Nishikant Dubey said that the agenda of the JMM and the Congress is clearly visible from the statement of Irfan Ansari.

"The main objective of Mahagama MLA Dipika Pandey Singh, Poreyahat MLA Pradeep Yadav and Pakur MLA Alamgir Alam is to increase the Muslim population here and use it as a vote bank in elections. Irfan Ansari's father Furkan Ansari also used to do the same," he stated.

Dubey said that it is also true that Madhupur assembly has become Muslim majority.

Former Jharkhand chief minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly Babulal Marandi said that this statement reflects the ideology of the Congress MLA.

As the controversy escalated, Irfan Ansari made a U-turn from his statement. He said that this is the statement of the BJP people, which he has repeated.

"I had said that the people of BJP call Pakur and Sahebganj as Bangladesh and Mahagama as mini Pakistan. The BJP people are doing politics against me by distorting my statement," Ansari claimed.