‘Mamata Muzzling The Muslim Voice Outside Her Party’

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Photo courtesy: The Indian Express.

Sami Ahmad

PATNA—West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) won 213 seats, out of a House of 292, in the March-April 2021 assembly elections.

Apart from TMC, there was just one non-BJP member to win a seat. He was Nawsad Siddiqui of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) who was arrested on January 23 for allegedly pelting stones at police.

Mamata got 48% votes in that election as the Muslim community wholeheartedly voted for her party candidates. That is why the opposition BJP could win 77 seats despite an all-out political assault from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But Mamata is now being accused of muzzling any voice from the Muslim community other than her party leaders. Last year, her party leaders were accused of murdering a social activist, Anish Khan. Now, some civil society organizations have accused Mamata’s police and her party workers of unleashing violence against the ISF’s lone MLA and his party members.

Nawsad won the Bhangar seat taking away it from the TMC. It falls under the South 24 Parganas Lok Sabha constituency and is also a part of the South 24 Parganas district. In 2016, Abdur Razzak Molla of the TMC won the seat by defeating Abdur Rashid Ghazi of CPIM by a margin of 18,124 votes.

ISF was formed in February 2021 by Abbas Siddiqui who is considered to be a ‘Pir’, an influential Muslim religious leader of Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district. Its allies were the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress but they could not win any seat.

TMC terms this alliance as Rainbow Alliance and alleged that it is an alliance of left, right and Naxalites. TMC’s national spokesperson Sukhendu Shekhar alleged that they have joined hands to attack TMC offices and workers.

BJP alleged that TMC is afraid of an erosion in the Muslim vote base as ISF is gaining popularity. It also claimed that the ruling party is finding it difficult to cope with the common people’s ire against the government.

Ironically, an MP of TMC Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar alleged ISF of joining hands with ‘Kafirs’ to defeat Mamta Banerjee.

This controversy erupted on the eve of ISF’s foundation day celebration. It was alleged by the ISF that their party offices were burnt down in Bhangar by TMC workers. On the other hand, TMC claimed that the ISF disturbed the situation in the area by bringing in armed men and attacking their supporters.

Social activists are now complaining that Mamata wants Muslim votes but not the voice of any Muslim leader outside her party.

A statement by Jai Bhim India Network, shared on the social media platform, said that the way in which an MLA, Nawsad, had been kept in police custody is unconstitutional. The statement asserted that “It is the constitutional right of a political party to celebrate its foundation day.”

It said that on January 21, 2023, the Indian Secular Front decided to commemorate its foundation day at Rani Rashmoni, Kolkata, with permission of the Kolkata Police.

It alleged that the ruling party, in order to sabotage this meeting as per their plan, started terrorizing the ISF workers from the preceding night and even Nawsad Siddiqui was not spared. The next day, when the ISF MLA tried to deal with the situation, “Trinamool goons vandalised his car and physically assaulted him.”

While Nawsad and other speakers demanded the arrest of the culprits, it was alleged that the police swooped in to spoil a peaceful political gathering.

The Network condemned “the manner in which an elected MLA was dragged and carried to the prison van with a stick. It called this barbaric.”

Jai Bhim India Network demanded the immediate arrest of one  Arabul Islam of Bhangar and his accomplices who allegedly attacked Nawsad. They also demanded the immediate release of all the workers, including MLA Nawsad Siddiqui, arrested in a ‘false case’.

Another organsiation called ‘The Joint Forum against NRC” marched in Kolkata from Sealdah Big Bazar and ended at Rani Rashmoni with Prasenjit Bose, the march convenor, reiterating the demands which included an unconditional release of all arrested ISF workers including MLA Nawsad Siddiqui. It also demanded the immediate arrest of Trinamool Congress-backed anti-socials in Bhangar Assembly Constituency who instigated trouble in the area.

Social activist Manzar Jamil told India Tomorrow that Mamata wanted to be the sole leader of the minority and did not want any minority leader to grow. He alleged that both the centre and state governments take action after seeing the name as no arrests are made when others bring out a procession.

He said that though ideologically he is not with the ISF but how can their democratic rights be denied? He questioned the silence of the Urdu-speaking intelligentsia of the country. He said that those Muslim leaders who campaign for Mamata must ask her to grant the democratic rights of the Muslims.

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