Dawn.com :
For most Delhi commentators, the Muslim vote bank in India’s West Bengal solely rests with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.
But such simplistic analysis fails to capture the mood of the voter on the ground.
Muslims, who comprise 27.01 per cent of Bengal’s population, are caught in a dilemma in this Lok Sabha election. They went over to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2009 and have largely backed the party until recently. But now, they are showing signs of unrest.
With the growing disenchantment with the Mamata Banerjee government, the Muslims are looking for an alternative. But the Congress and the Left have been weakened to such an extent in Bengal that none of them is in a position to challenge the TMC.
However, Muslims’ concerns to thwart the BJP’s entry in West Bengal leave them in a bind. Of the 24 seats that go to polls in the remaining three phases, Muslim voters can hugely impact the outcome in at least half-a-dozen seats.
“It is true that Muslims were in favour of change in 2011. At that time, both the Congress and the TMC were fighting the elections together
against the Left,” says Mohammed Kamruzzaman, leader of the All Bengal Minority Youth Federation. But in south Bengal, he says, most Muslim leaders like Sultan Ahmed, Sardar Amjad Ali, Idris Ali left the Congress and joined the TMC. “So, Muslims also rallied behind the TMC,” he says.
But things started changing. More than a year into her first term, chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared that her government had already fulfilled 90 per cent of the work needed to uplift the Muslims.
But Kamruzzaman says the situation hasn’t altered on ground even today. “She stopped giving recognition to new madrassas. During the last days of the Left rule, they issued ordinance to include Muslims in the OBC category. If a law was enacted, Muslims would have been eligible for 10 per cent reservation in government. Mamata, however, did not pursue that,” he says.
In south Bengal, which is getting ready to vote in the next three phases, most Muslims are rallying behind the TMC, but a section is now trying to renew its ties with the Left.
In Basirhat, a traditional Left stronghold till 2014, CPI’s Pallab Sengupta is facing a stiff challenge from popular actor and TMC candidate Nusrat Jahan and the BJP’s Sayantan Basu. Sengupta’s campaign meetings have been disrupted allegedly by TMC members. He claims that the local pirjada (religious leader) has appealed to his followers to support a secular candidate like him.
For most Delhi commentators, the Muslim vote bank in India’s West Bengal solely rests with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.
But such simplistic analysis fails to capture the mood of the voter on the ground.
Muslims, who comprise 27.01 per cent of Bengal’s population, are caught in a dilemma in this Lok Sabha election. They went over to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2009 and have largely backed the party until recently. But now, they are showing signs of unrest.
With the growing disenchantment with the Mamata Banerjee government, the Muslims are looking for an alternative. But the Congress and the Left have been weakened to such an extent in Bengal that none of them is in a position to challenge the TMC.
However, Muslims’ concerns to thwart the BJP’s entry in West Bengal leave them in a bind. Of the 24 seats that go to polls in the remaining three phases, Muslim voters can hugely impact the outcome in at least half-a-dozen seats.
“It is true that Muslims were in favour of change in 2011. At that time, both the Congress and the TMC were fighting the elections together
against the Left,” says Mohammed Kamruzzaman, leader of the All Bengal Minority Youth Federation. But in south Bengal, he says, most Muslim leaders like Sultan Ahmed, Sardar Amjad Ali, Idris Ali left the Congress and joined the TMC. “So, Muslims also rallied behind the TMC,” he says.
But things started changing. More than a year into her first term, chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared that her government had already fulfilled 90 per cent of the work needed to uplift the Muslims.
But Kamruzzaman says the situation hasn’t altered on ground even today. “She stopped giving recognition to new madrassas. During the last days of the Left rule, they issued ordinance to include Muslims in the OBC category. If a law was enacted, Muslims would have been eligible for 10 per cent reservation in government. Mamata, however, did not pursue that,” he says.
In south Bengal, which is getting ready to vote in the next three phases, most Muslims are rallying behind the TMC, but a section is now trying to renew its ties with the Left.
In Basirhat, a traditional Left stronghold till 2014, CPI’s Pallab Sengupta is facing a stiff challenge from popular actor and TMC candidate Nusrat Jahan and the BJP’s Sayantan Basu. Sengupta’s campaign meetings have been disrupted allegedly by TMC members. He claims that the local pirjada (religious leader) has appealed to his followers to support a secular candidate like him.
