Identity politics has gained ground in West Bengal too, If ISF led by Siddiqui becomes the key player, he will extract his pound of flesh, as he is already talking of taking ‘his’ hissa on behalf of the community and not being a mere partner
By Abdulhafiz Lakhani. Kolkata
Subrata Mandal from West Burdwan in Asansol, who is a lecturer at BB College in Asansol, said, “In both TMC and BJP, there is ideological bankruptcy and their leaders shift to and from each others’ party. They only want to do communal polarisation while healthcare, education and agriculture are ailing. The Left Front, Congress and other secular parties will ensure the fight for jobs, food and education.”
Drawing a difference between BJP-RSS’s Hindutva and Bengali Hindus, Mandal said, “We are Hindu by birth, but our religion is Humanism. But BJP’s Hindutva do not let people unite, it instead divides and gives way to narrowness of the mind.
Bhaijaan alias siddiki keeps inquiring about us and he also gave us amulets for our good fortune. We are with Bhaijaan so that we can go to heaven after we leave this world. He is contesting the elections under the banner of Indian Secular Front and this time we are going to support him,” Huzaifa a worker in field said.
He said, “I voted for the CPI (M) for years but nothing has happened as far as the welfare of Muslims is concerned. The same politics is now being played by the Trinamool Congress. The Bharatiya Janata Party is more dangerous than all the parties now. So, we have become the followers of Abbas Siddiqui and we will vote for those parties which will have Bhaijaan’s support.”
Muslims’ political behaviour varies across India. It customarily consolidates itself with the “secular” parties wherever the political race is directly between the secular and non-secular narratives. However, in States with more multifaceted political competition, they appear divided among political parties for a variety of local or class interests.
As far as the Muslims of West Bengal are concerned, they have always played an instrumental and significant role as voters. The Congress, the Communist parties and the TMC have always earned considerable political and upright support of Muslims.
In fact, both the Communists and the TMC, though hesitantly and mutely, tried to work on the Muslim’s upliftment to some extent so as not to be accused of “Muslim appeasement” from the Opposition like the BJP, etc. The minority upliftment programmes for the betterment of the minorities either in Bengal or anywhere else in the country, initiated by any ruling parties, have been termed as Muslim appeasement.
For the deteriorated condition of Muslims not only in Bengal but also in other States appears to be the lack of unity and cohesion in its leadership. Furthermore, the personal rivalry or disputes, division among themselves due to personal and political interests have resulted in creating an atmosphere of fear among Muslims that paved the way for the political parties to treat them as mere vote bank.
Bengal had been a very sensitive region for communal violence but no major communal violence has been reported after Independence. The two-and-a-half crore Muslims of West Bengal, whose ancestors happily rejected two nations theory and chose to live in India, have equally and admirably contributed to nation building.
According to the 2011 Census, West Bengal had over 24.6 million Bengali Muslims, who formed 27.01 per cent of the population of the state. Bengali Muslims form the majority of the population in three districts — Malda, Murshidabad and Uttar Dinajpur.
The Bengali Muslim population in the state (West Bengal) soon after the Partition in 1947 was around 12 per cent. After Partition, some Bengali Muslims from West Bengal emigrated to East Pakistan (present-day-Bangladesh). However, the Muslim population of several West Bengal districts did grow between the decade of 1941-1951, despite the migration of two-thirds of a million people, to erstwhile East Pakistan. According to 2011 census, the Muslim population in West Bengal stood over 24,654,825.
According to this same census, there were around 24.6 million Muslims in West Bengal and nearly 19 million were native, Bengali-speaking Muslims, constituting overall 77 per cent of the total Muslim population in the state and were mainly concentrated in rural areas. The legal Muslim migrants, from other states of India, live particularly in the state’s capital Kolkata and other urban areas. Between 2001-2011, the Bangladeshi Muslim population in the region had increased to 5-7 per cent.
In today’s ballot parlance in Bengal, two communities are usually talked about as major vote banks in elections—the Muslims and the Matuas. Muslims comprise about 30 per cent of voters in the state while Matuas, approximately 15 per cent. Matuas are Hindu refugees. While the BJP is trying hard to woo this community and wean them away from the TMC, Didi’s party too, is leaving no stone unturned.
The ‘Poriborton’ came when the TMC got into action and amassed the farmers, workers and Muslims, and especially the poor, during their Singur and Nandigram agitations. Also, the Sachar Commission report of 2010 boosted Mamata’s prospects and catapulted the switch of loyalties from the Left to the TMC. The panel further went on to say that Bengal Muslims were in ‘worse’ condition especially on social and economic parameters.
After almost a decade, now a fresh scramble for Muslim votes is being seen in the state. Two prominent leaders vouching for the Muslim identity are in the fray—Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui, the preacher from the influential Furfura Darbar Sharif in Hooghly district, and Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM boss and Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad.
Siddiqui, popularly called ‘Bhaijaan’ and Owaisi, were ‘supposed’ to contest the Bengal assembly election for the same cause. In the initial days of bonhomie, Siddiqui had declared himself ‘a fan of Owaisi’ and Owaisi had made Siddiqui the leader of his AIMIM.
However, Bhaijaan said things did not work out and later, went on to join hands with the Left-Congress combine for Bengal election, asking ‘his followers’ to vote for the alliance—the Mahajot. Following Siddiqui’s decision to go with the Mahajot, Owaisi decided to go it alone. However, it is felt in some quarters that the Urdu-speaking Muslims may side with Owaisi.
Siddiqui has already created a stir with his newly floated Indian Secular Front (ISF), with his brother Naushad Siddiqui as its head. He has time and again said, his front stands firmly for the rights of Muslims, Adivasis and Dalits. But in all his speeches, his appeal has mainly been to the Muslims.
The polarisation in Bengal is quite obvious. The BJP has rotated its strike against the TMC on issues like the coal scam, the cow smuggling, Durga Puja processions, Saraswati Puja and last, but not the least, the chants of Jai Shri Ram! Its hardcore campaigning paid handsome dividends in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when the deep polarisation was obvious.
The TMC, however, mustered more Muslim votes, pushing its vote share by five per cent, as compared to the previous 2014 polls, despite being down to 22 seats, 12 lesser than in the last Lok Sabha. A deep counter-polarisation of Hindu votes instead helped the BJP win 18 seats, with the saffron party polling 27 per cent more votes than the previous Lok Sabha election.
A more vigorous presence and campaigning by Siddiqui may only spell greater polarisation and hugely focus on the Muslim vote share. He is surely going to be a huge factor in this election. His Furfura Darbar Sharif is a hugely popular Islamic sect in Bengal, especially in the border areas of the state and his popularity with the Muslim voters is growing by the day
In his recent speeches, he has been scathingly attacking both Mamata and the BJP, and has been directly asking Muslims and minority Dalits to vote for ‘Bhaijaan’.
The border areas of the state are also where there has been an influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Illegal migration has been the rallying poll cry of the BJP for years now. With hardly three weeks left, West Bengal goes to the polls against the backdrop of high-octane wooing of Muslim votes.
In case, Siddiqui and Owaisi manage to snatch away Muslim votes from the TMC, the BJP might just have the last laugh. However, in politics, there are no permanent enemies. In fact, strange bedfellows make ‘good’ partners in dire straits and hence, it may be a tight call for the BJP then. But it’s for sure that if Siddiqui has to choose Mamata, this time, it will come at a huge premium and might just change the paradigm of government formation once and for all.
If Siddiqui becomes the key player, he will extract his pound of flesh, as he is already talking of taking ‘his’ hissa on behalf of the community and not being a mere partner in the government. He has categorically stated in every speech of his that ‘they’ have played a key role in forming every government and if it comes to that this time around, ‘they’ will ask for their ‘share’ and Bhaijaan’s favour will come at a premium.
Dr. Amitava Kanjilal, who heads the political science department at Siliguri College, said so long the perception was that the BJP was the sole challenger to the incumbent TMC. However, the Brigade rally has forced a change in perception. From being treated as inconsequential to be being reckoned as a factor that can force a triangular fight is no mean transition, Kanjilal told here.
To Prof. Suranjan C. Mukhopadhyay, who teaches sociology at Amity University in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, a new formula is being experimented with in the state. According to it, he opined, the established Left Front is aligning with non-left parties to make what Mukhopadhyay thinks is a last-ditch attempt to preserve democracy, whose values have been steadily eroding in recent years. Pro-poor, pro-common people policies, which help nurture democracy and facilitate the widest possible people’s participation in the democratic process, are bring discarded. He cited the privatisation of education, which is fast becoming a “new normal”, is directly affecting the poor who just can’t afford it. Going by these unwelcome ground realities, the Brigade event was historic, Mukhopadhyay told here.
Prof. Sibaji Pratim Basu, who teaches political science and is dean, Faculty of Arts and Commerce at Vidyasagar University in Midnapore, is of the view that success in mobilising several lakhs of people at Brigade will act as a confidence booster for the Left and that it will now have to concentrate on consolidation. Identity politics has gained ground in West Bengal too and what is being practised is what is described in political science as “interest articulation. Remember, it is for this reason that Mayawati, despite several attempts could not make inroads in the Matua vote bank,” he said.
(www.siyasat.net is Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India based Website, powered by Gujarat siyasat, a Fortnightly)
An Appeal For The Sake Of Upright & Fearless Brand Of Journalism
To sustain and improve our coverage. Gujarat siyasat- a vernacular Fortnightly and English٫ Hindi Website www.siyasat.net
Your little but timely support is needed۔
Bank details، GUJARAT SIYASAT, Current Account 204720110000318, ifsc code BKID0002047 BANK OF INDIA , VASNA BRANCH, AHMEDABAD GUJARAT INDIA
Also on Phone pay, Paytm,Google pay +91 9925531111
We hope you help and see siyasat.net grow. And rejoice that your contribution has made it possible.
सत्य को ज़िंदा रखने की इस मुहिम में आपका सहयोग बेहद ज़रूरी है। आपसे मिली सहयोग राशि हमारे लिए संजीवनी का कार्य करेगी और हमे इस मार्ग पर निरंतर चलने के लिए प्रेरित करेगी। याद रखिये ! सत्य विचलित हो सकता है पराजित नहीं।
Regards,
Abdulhafiz Lakhani
editor@siyasat.net, Ahmedabad
