Even as influential Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui is all set to play his debut political innings in West Bengal, the BJP Minority Morcha in the state has set a target of acquiring nearly 20-25 lakh new members mainly from the street vendors’ community and migrant workers who suffered the most during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Except for the Hill region, the Minority Morcha has started working in all the districts to achieve the target by November.
In recent years, the BJP has attempted to trap chief minister Mamata Banerjee with both the Hindu and minority cards.
On the one hand it has worked extensively to draw the Hindu vote share towards itself on 226 assembly seats and on the other hand its Minority Morcha is looking to divide Didi’s Muslim votes.
Also, the decision by Siddiqui’s Secular Front to contest the upcoming assembly polls in alliance with AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi is going to add to the woes of the Trinamool Congress.
“These influential Muslim leaders in Bengal contesting polls with Asaduddin Owaisi in 98 Muslim-dominated assembly seats is certainly a big problem for Mamata. And the BJP’s Minority Morcha will do the rest of the damage as it will also certainly cut the Muslim vote share to some extent. In a nut shell, the BJP has cleverly managed to polarise Hindu votes in the midst of a division in the Muslim vote share,” political expert Kapil Thakur said.
In Bengal, with a more than 31 per cent Muslim vote share, the community was a key factor behind the Left Rule lasting 34 years in the state. In 2011, Mamata came to power with the support of Muslim voters, and in 2021 they are once again going to be a decisive factor for any political party to form the next government in Bengal.
The BJP knows it well that any significant division in the Muslim vote share, a key element in nearly 90 assembly segments out of the 294 in the state, could jeopardise Mamata Banerjee’s hopes of retaining power.
In West Bengal, nearly 22 per cent of Kolkata city’s population is of Muslims while they are close to 67 per cent in Murshidabad district. The second and third highest Muslim populations are in North Dinajpur (51 per cent) and Malda (52 per cent) respectively. .
West Bengal accounts for the second highest Muslim population in India, which is nearly 2.47 crore, constituting about 30 per cent of the state’s population.
In the 2016 assembly polls, TMC was ahead in nearly 90 minority-dominated assembly segments. In densely Muslim-populated areas, comprising more than 40 per cent of the electorate, the Trinamool was ahead in about 60 out of 65 assembly constituencies.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC got 43 per cent votes (despite losing 12 seats), which is 5 per cent more compared to its haul in the 2014 polls. That year, the TMC had got 34 seats, while in 2019 it managed to secure only 22 seats. But despite losing 12 seats, the TMC’s vote share increased because it got the full support of Muslims.
On the other hand, in the 2016 assembly elections, the BJP’s vote share was 12 per cent and in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls it went up to 39 per cent. The huge jump was mainly because of Hindu votes drifting towards it.
This shows how a minor swing in the Muslim vote share could devastate Mamata’s 2021 game plan and can bring joy to the BJP camp.
An extensive survey done by the Minority Morcha has revealed that most of the skilled migrant workers (masons, carpenters, metal fabricators, painters, handloom workers, tailors, bangle makers, sports gear designers, etc) and street vendors in the areas of Bengal bordering Bangladesh are from the Muslim community and the move to draw them towards the BJP is aimed at breaking Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank.
Speaking to News18.com, president of the BJP’s Monitory Morcha, Ali Hossain, said, “Yes, it is true that we have set a target to get new minority members in Bengal. We have set a target of more than 20 lakh by November. Till last year, the number of minority BJP members was 4 lakh. Overall, there are one crore BJP members and in the coming few months our target is to add two crore additional members in Bengal.”
While elaborating more, he said, “We have set up ‘Atmanirbhar help desks’ in all the districts in Bengal except the Hill regions. Through these help desks, we are helping street vendors and migrant workers (who suffered a lot due to the lockdown) in restarting their businesses and work. We will try to make them self-reliant so that they don’t have to move to other states for work.”
When asked that won’t migrant workers and street vendors need funds to start afresh, Hossain said, “Yes, it is true and for that we will help them in availing substantial loans without any guarantor and also we will make sure that they will be benefited with several central government schemes to start their businesses once again. There are various central government schemes for these segments of society and we are working in this. We are preparing data of such people and hopefully we will be able to succeed in that.”
On the matter of resentment in the Muslim community regarding issues connected to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Triple Talaq, and Ram Temple in Ayodhya, he said, “Our senior party leader and union home minister Amit Shahji has categorically said that there won’t be NRC as of now in India. I personally feel that the Centre should go for the National Population Register (NPR) because we should have a list of Indians and foreigners for our internal security. There is nothing wrong in demanding for NPR. As far as Ayodhya is concerned, it was the judgment of the court and we all must respect that. During this Covid-19 pandemic, the most challenging factor for poor people is how to survive. I think such issues will not be a factor before us in increasing our minority membership.”
Political experts feel that the TMC is aware of a possible division in the Muslim vote share in the 2021 state polls and, therefore, recently Mamata Banerjee had announced several sops for Hindus, including a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 and free housing to nearly 8,000 Sanatan Brahmin priests in the state and mapping of ‘lost’ ancient temples in Bengal to brand the state as ‘Maha Tirtha Bhumi’ and ‘Maha Purno Bhumi’.
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