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While dusting the jars stuffed with native Milkcuit lozenges inside his small picket gumti (stall) in Rajarhat in North 24 Parganas district, a name from somebody referred to as Habib drew Kaushar Ali Mollah’s consideration.
He shortly eliminated the pair of glasses swinging round his neck with a lanyard and hung it on a peg at one nook of his stall, adorned with chains of tobacco pouches and sachets of Navratna oil apart from different each day objects.
“Yes, yes, I know,” he said on the phone. “Not only Adhir (Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury)…Abdul da (Abdul Mannan) also went along with him to meet Peer saheb (Abbas Siddiqui).”
For many years, Kaushar Ali Mollah was a diehard supporter of CPI (M), however with the Left fading, the recognition of Abbas Siddiqui not solely attracted folks like Kaushar but in addition managed to safe the boldness of a lot of Muslims in Bengal, primarily in areas bordering Bangladesh.
Siddiqui is an influential cleric of Furfura Darbar Sharif situated in Jangipara in Hooghly district and presently he has an extended checklist of followers in the state.
Being immensely common amongst Muslims with substantial mass help in some border areas of Bengal, he as soon as termed himself as a “great fan” of Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
It was Siddiqui’s ploy to achieve entry in Bengal’s politics, as his assertion turned a priority for the ruling Trinamool Congress that got here to energy in 2011 with the help of Muslims.
Siddiqui’s reward for Owaisi has not solely modified the political equations in Bengal however has additionally created an enormous alternative for AIMIM to flex its muscle tissues in the 2021 meeting polls.
Back at Kaushar Ali Mollah’s stall in Rajarhat, whereas dusting the jars after a fast dialog with Habib, he stated, “I voted for the CPI (M) for years but nothing has happened as far as the welfare of the Muslims is concerned. The same politics is now being played by the TMC, and the BJP is more dangerous than both of them. So we became the followers of Abbas Siddiqui and we will vote for those parties which will have Abbas Bhai’s support. Today, politicians from all the parties are trying to rope in Abbas Bhai. Do you think these politicians are fools and are doing a favour to Abbas Siddiqui? Actually, they want to use him to divide the Muslim votes.”
When contacted, AIMIM’s West Bengal president Jamirul Hassan stated, “After a good show in Bihar, we are certainly going to contest the assembly polls in West Bengal. Our main target is the BJP and we are ready to go for an alliance with the ruling TMC. Last night, I had a word with Owaisi Sahab and he asked me to meet him in Hyderabad next week to chalk out plans for Bengal.”
When requested about AIMIM being referred to as ‘vote cutters’ and ‘B-team’ of BJP, as this can assist the saffron brigade in Bengal and will create issues for the ruling TMC, he stated, “These are baseless allegations to mislead the voters. That is why we have kept our alliance card open for the TMC. Our target is BJP. Now it is up to Didi (Mamata Banerjee) to decide. Besides Abbas Siddiqui, there are several other strong leaders (sidelined) from other national parties who are willing to join us. Once we will formally announce our plan for West Bengal, then they will join us. Our online membership has crossed 30 lakhs in Bengal and except Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri we have a good presence in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Malda, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Nadia and Cooch Behar.”
While elaborating extra about their help base in Bengal, he stated, “There are good leaders from Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Welfare Party of India (WPI), State Muslim League, Indian National League and other Dalit organisations (which contested the 2016 assembly polls) who extended their support to us. We are going to play a crucial role in the assembly polls in Bengal. We will try to bring the minorities and Dalits under one umbrella and our slogan will be ‘Jai Meem, Jai Bhim’.”
It was learnt that the Bengal unit of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) was dissolved by the central committee 4 years in the past however its members are nonetheless lively in Bengal’s politics. Similarly, smaller events just like the Indian Unity Centre (IUC), Bahujan Mukti Party and Party for Democratic Socialism contested the 2016 meeting polls.
Though leaders of those events didn’t make any important mark in Bengal’s politics, collectively they could be a good workforce which AIMIM is actually eyeing, apart from having the help of cleric Abbas Siddiqui.
AIMIM leaders are additionally in contact with a mainstream nationwide social gathering for potential alliance, if it fails to get the TMC on board.
With a greater than 31 per cent vote share, Muslims are undeniably an important electoral issue in West Bengal.
They proved this through the greater than three-decade-long Left rule in the state until TMC chief Mamata Banerjee got here to energy in 2011.
Mamata is aware of it effectively that any important division in the Muslim vote share, an important issue in almost 90 meeting segments out of the 294 in the state, might jeopardise her Mission 2021.
Owaisi sees an enormous political alternative in Bengal and since 2011 his social gathering has slowly began working in the border areas of the state the place the Muslim inhabitants is excessive.
In 2019, the TMC acquired 43 per cent votes (regardless of shedding 12 seats) which is 5 per cent extra (due to Muslim help) as in comparison with the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In 2014, TMC acquired 34 seats, whereas in 2019 it managed to safe solely 22 seats.
On the opposite hand, in the 2016 meeting elections, the BJP’s vote share was 12 per cent and in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls it went as much as 39 per cent. There was a rise of 27 per cent primarily due to Hindus drifting in the direction of the BJP.
This exhibits how a minor swing in the Muslim vote share in the direction of AIMIM or Abbas Siddqui could possibly be an enormous downside for Mamata.
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