Many people who follow Mamata were more interested in the by-election in the Sagardighi Assembly constituency in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Muslims dominate the Sagardighi block with 64.68%, Hindus are 31.56%, Christians are 1.85%, and the rest are 1.91%. There is no second opinion over Mamata Banerjee’s soft disposition towards the Muslim community. In fact, Muslims from the Hindi belt have always found a safe haven in West Bengal. All that a migrant had to do was reach into a mosque, where someone would provide a scope for dignified living, often hawking wares by encroaching on the pavement, etc.
Didi’s Trinamool was sure to beat the CPM and the Congress because it had so many Muslims in its ranks. The BJP party was never a significant opponent in the highly polarised block, despite overtures by the RSS and the BJP to woo the minorities. The CPM was a different kind of opponent, as they held sway for many decades and were responsible for settling many Muslims from adjacent Bangladesh into Malda, Murshidabad, and other bordering districts.
The CPM, fighting fierce battles on the streets of Kerala with the Congress party, did a strange thing by entering into a poll alliance with the Congress party to take on the mighty Trinamool in Sagardighi. The Trinamool Congress killed itself by putting ISF leader Naushad Siddiqui of Bhangore in jail for forty days without letting him out on bail. The huge money piles found in the flats of many leaders and with their girlfriends may not have impacted the poll result as much as the arrest of the ISF leader and his long detention.
Trinamool has led every protest against Modi-Shah’s BJP and the Center’s attempts to enforce the CAA and NCR. The Trinamool is trying hard to change its reputation as a pro-minority or anti-Hindu party by reaching out to Hindus. The first fissures between the Trinamool and the minorities appeared in the last election, when ISF leader Abbasi Siddiqui broke ranks with the Trinamool, floated a political outfit, and promised to drive Didi’s party out. The relationship between the minorities and Didi has never been the same since then. Trinamool is wary of the BJP’s gains in rural pockets and has started organizing pujas for every Hindu god and goddess. Roadside kirtans and bhajans by Trinamool-hired artists can be witnessed more frequently.
The minority voters might have become uneasy as a result of the overtures and decided to switch to the Congress party, which has the CPM’s support and is more reliable and secure. It remains to be seen if they would continue to support a Congress without the CPM’s support, as the alliance is an opportunistic one, merely to keep the BJP out. The Bengal Muslims may never support the BJP, a situation that was best enjoyed by the Trinamool party. But it does not bar the Muslims from supporting other non-right parties like the CPM, Congress, or even their ISF, which must be a realisation for Didi.
The Trinamool Congress shouldn’t waste time trying to go global or national. Instead, it should focus on keeping its strength in West Bengal, which is the only state it is in. Any unwise experiment might upset the apple cart and could spell the end of the party sooner than we expect. Didi can take comfort in the fact that her minority vote bank may not shift its loyalty towards the BJP anytime soon. Didi may redeem some of her party’s lost image during the Panchayat elections. However, to predict that turbulence is ahead, you need no expertise.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
