Khan entered the assembly first under the banner of the Bahujan Samaj Party before switching to JD in 2021 and serving as Minister of Minority Welfare. His inclusion now as minister again has been characterised by commentators as largely symbolic, emphasising optics over real empowerment. Fiction writer and activist Syed Ahmad Quadri described the move as “more symbolic than representational”, suggesting Khan may be given a less prominent portfolio such as minority affairs.
Data on candidate selection during the 2025 state elections reinforce this structural trend. The JD, together with its alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party, fielded only four Muslim candidates compared with 11 in 2020, signalling a strategic recalibration away from minority outreach and towards consolidating core votebases.
The larger communal breakdown of the ministry reveals similar patterns of calculus. The 27-member portfolio thus far comprises 14 BJP ministers, eight from JD, two from the Lok Janshakti Party and one each from the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha. They include three women ministers and eight from upper-caste groups, while the representation of Other Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes and Dalits remains variable yet limited in key portfolios.
Political analysts see Khan’s singular status as the only Muslim face in the cabinet as an indicator of the coalition’s shifting priorities. One senior JD functionary acknowledged the change was part of a “fine-tuned social equation” in which core caste groups and development credentials were being emphasised over broader minority representation. Some observers view Khan’s inclusion as a bid to mitigate criticism on communal lines without conceding substantive power to the minority community.
Khan’s own political trajectory adds to the complexity of the issue. He hails from a family in Naughra village, Chainpur, Kaimur district, and has shifted party allegiances multiple times—moving from BSP to Congress and then to JD. His victory margin in 2025 stood at 8,362 votes, down from a larger margin in 2020. That decline, coupled with rising infrastructure deficits in his constituency and protests by local residents, has weakened his community-based standing. In fact electoral dynamics in Chainpur are described as volatile and now feature a triangular contest involving BSP, RJD and JD.
Muslim community leaders were quick to critique the state of affairs. Several noted the sense of under-representation has deepened, given Bihar’s Muslim population of over 16 per cent, yet securing only a single ministerial berth. Some believe Khan’s role may be confined to a low-key portfolio, which would replicate a pattern of tokenism noted in past cabinets.