E-Paper
Cong, CPI(M) tell Owaisi’s Bengal ally to dump AIMIM before seat-sharing talks
Siddiqui, who has accused the TMC of not doing enough for the minority community and using it as a vote bank instead, launched the Indian Secular Front (ISF) on January 21 and offered the Congress and the Left parties to become its ally and share seats.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s plans to contest the coming Bengal assembly polls as an ally of Pirzada Abbasuddin Siddiqui, a young cleric from the famous Furfura Sharif shrine in Bengal’s Hooghly district, has run into rough weather with the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M), refusing to share seats with Siddiqui as long he has ties with the Hyderabad-based party.
The cleric is a scion of the Siddiqui family, the custodian of the shrine which is built around the mausoleum of Pir Abu Bakr Siddiqui. It also has a mosque built in 1375 and draws millions.
Making his first significant move to emerge as a threat to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the polls due in March-April, Owaisi visited Furfura Sharif on January 3 and held talks with Siddiqui for two hours.
Siddiqui, who has accused the TMC of not doing enough for the minority community and using it as a vote bank instead, launched the Indian Secular Front (ISF) on January 21 and offered the Congress and the Left parties to become its ally and share seats to safeguard “the interest of Muslims, tribal people and backward communities”.
This triggered sharp reactions. Accused by the TMC, Congress and the Left parties of helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by splitting Muslim votes in the recent Bihar assembly polls, the AIMIM, several Muslim clerics and imams said, will not be accepted by voters in Bengal. Siddiqullah Chowdhury, a minister in the TMC government and president of the Jamiat Ulema-e–Hind’s state branch has also declared that Owaisi has no place in Bengal.
Siddiqui, however, went ahead and approached the Congress and wrote a formal letter to Left Front chairman and senior CPI (M) leader Biman Bose last week, seeking 44 seats for ISF.
Abdul Mannan, senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in the state assembly, held an unofficial dialogue with Siddiqui and wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on February 4, seeking permission to hold alliance talks with ISF. Describing the cleric as a popular leader, Mannan wrote to Gandhi that ISF “is a threat for all secular parties.”
“This led to resentment in our party,” a state Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.
On Sunday, the Congress, CPI(M) and other Left parties completed their third round of talks on sharing 230 of Bengal’s 294 assembly seats, leaving the remaining 64 for further discussion.
“We are not in a position to spare 44 seats for ISF as there are other parties in the fray. I am not saying anything on the content of Siddiqui’s letter,” said Biman Bose.
Mannan, on the other hand, clearly announced that the Congress will not have any tie-up with ISF if the AIMIM is a part of it. Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “I had no discussion with Siddiqui on alliance or seat sharing.”
CPI (M) Politburo member Md Salim said, “I spoke to Siddiqui. I told him we cannot have an understanding with AIMIM in the picture.”
Talking to HT, Siddiqui said, “AIMIM approached us with the proposal to form an alliance. The Left and Congress cannot tell us who we can have as an ally as long as they do not proceed with the talks. So far, we have had none. Why have they suddenly become allergic to the AIMIM? Once we get that answer we can find some medicine for this allergy.”
Reacting to Bose’s refusal to spare 44 seats, Siddiqui described the Congress and CPI (M) as “dying parties”.
“Both parties are dying. We thought of pumping some oxygen into them and to form a secular government in Bengal. If they do not want the oxygen we can always perform the last rites,” Siddiqui said.
AIMIM leaders in Hyderabad refused to comment on the standoff.
“I will not say a single word,” said an AIMIM national leader who did not even want to be quoted.
Bengal’s Muslim population stood at 27.01 % during the 2011 census and is projected to have increased to around 30 % now. Among the districts where the Muslim population is substantially high are Murshidabad (66.28%), Malda (51.27%), North Dinajpur (49.92%), South 24 Parganas (35.57%), and Birbhum (37.06%) districts. There are a large number of Muslim voters in East and West Burdwan districts, North 24 Parganas and Nadia as well.
According to surveys done by the TMC and the BJP, swing in Muslim votes can influence poll results in as many as 120 assembly seats.
Union home minister Amit Shah has announced that his party will oust the Mamata Banerjee government by winning more than 200 of the state’s 294 seats while Banerjee’s election strategist Prashant Kishor recently tweeted that he will give up his job if the BJP’s tally crosses 99.
