Kolkata: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has handed the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi a six-month deadline as the ruling Trinamool Congress looks to consolidate its vote share among minority populations in the state ahead of the 2024 general election. The BJP has said it expects to win at least 35 of Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats - a big jump from the 18 it claimed in 2019.
In response, Mamata Banerjee, speaking at a conference of Muslim religious leaders in Kolkata, highlighted schemes programmes rolled out by her administration for the benefit of Muslims in the state and announced a hike of Rs 500 in monthly allowance for imams. She also announced a similar increase for Hindu priests. She warned the Narendra Modi government it had just six months left.
The Muslim vote plays an important role in Bengal elections as they form a not insignificant 27.01% of the state's total population, according to data from the 2011 census.
"When I participated in breaking roza (fast) during the month of Ramadan, a lot of people ridiculed me and the BJP even changed my name. I have nothing to lose from it. What I will do is my personal choice. I will ensure no religion fights another religion. People are one and humanity is one," she said.
"However... when I participate in adivasi dances, they have nothing say. They are only angry about the minority population. They suffer ant bites when it comes to minorities," Mamata Banerjee said.
The BJP has accused the Bengal CM of practicing appeasement politics for political considerations given the electoral importance of the Muslim population in the state.
"Nowadays, some BJP leaders are paying some people in cash to divide the minority community so they are divided among themselves... eventually they (the BJP) gain. The CPIM is shameless... they form alliances at the panchayat level, where they, the BJP and Congress come together. This is not hidden. It is out in the open. They have found a new leader they promote with money and they run false campaigns and start riots. They are doing this," she told the gathering of imams and muezzins.
"Some boys from your homes are using the name of a dargah. We respect the Furfura Sharif shrine. I hope they will not enter politics... like we don't want Belur Math to enter politics. We do not want religious shrines to be used for politics. They should not misuse these names," Mamata Banerjee said.
The CM's comment was a reference to the Indian Secular Front, which managed to snatch some panchayat seats in Bhangar in the state's South 24 Parganas district, which saw violence during polls.
The ISF is a political party founded in 2021 by Abbas Siddique, who is an Islamic scholar and social activist, and is the cleric of the Furfura Sharif shrine in Bengal's Hooghly. His brother, Nawsad, is the MLA from Bhangar; the ISF won this seat from the Trinamool in the 2021 Bengal Assembly election.
Mamata Banerjee also had a warning for voters, telling them the BJP plans to 'divide votes in Bengal (to) make up for seats they are losing elsewhere in the country'. "The BJP will engage in mischief... in Bengal, BJP, CPIM and Congress are one. At the all-India level I am with I.N.D.I.A. Absolutely."
"And Modiji has only six months left. After that Modiji will not be in power. Whatever needs to be done to defeat Modiji we will do. But I am their target. You know why? They want to divide votes in Bengal and make up for the seats that they are losing elsewhere in the country. Don't make that mistake," the Bengal CM said.
Meanwhile, the BJP has accused Mamata Banerjee of squeezing minorities for a profit.
Suvendu Adhikari, a BJP MLA and the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, slammed the 'so-called Secular Party' in power in the state and thanked union minister Smriti Irani for initiating a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into an alleged scam involving scholarships for minority communities.
"This is how minority communities are squeezed for profit in a state governed by a 'so-called secular party'... almost 830 institutions involved with this scholarship programme have been found to be 'fake'... leading to a scam of Rs 144.83 crore in the past 5 years," Adhikari declared.
The ex-Trinamool leader also cited 'media reports' to claim 39 per cent of institutes at which students from minority communities had supposedly availed such scholarships had been declared 'fake'.
"In Bengal, persons pretending to be Nodal Officers from the Institutes are Trinamool leaders... that is why their 'verification process' was approved by the Officials of Minorities Affairs and Madrasah Education Department and the District Administration as well. All these people were in tacit understanding (with) and acted as co-conspirators to loot crores of rupees provided by the central government for the benefit of students belonging to minority communities," Adhikari alleged.