Muslims keep faith in Mamata: TMC bags over 90 of the 125 seats with sizeable Muslim electorates

KOLKATA: The Muslims in West Bengal have reposed their faith in Mamata Banerjee again replicating the voting pattern the community has been following in subsequent elections since 2009.

Of the 125 seats where Muslim votes hold sway, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC has won almost 90 seats bettering its record of 2011 when it had won 95 of these seats in alliance with the Congress.

The party has not only swept seats in south Bengal but has made inroads into the Congress bastions in North Bengal.

Muslims and backward classes together make the largest voting bloc in Bengal and it was a Left monopoly for long. In 2006, when the Left had swept to power with 235 seats in the Assembly, it had won 102 of these 125 seats. But between the land question in Singur and Nandigram and the Sachar Committee report, the Muslim vote has moved over to the Trinamool camp.

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Areas with high Muslim concentrations in Kolkata, the two Parganas, Howrah, Burdwan and Birbhum in south Bengal and Murshidabad and the two Dinajpurs in north Bengal overwhelmingly voted for Mamata Banerjee sending the signal that Singur, Sachar and Nandigram were fresh in their minds.

Another highlight was that both the Bengali speaking Muslims in the hinterland and Urdu speaking in urban areas who have traditionally voted for Congress voted in sync.

A surge in Muslim votes in four wards were the sole reason that saw Smita Bakshi grappling with several allegation of corruption and nepotism to victory in Jorasanko, explaining the extent of support the community has extended to Mamata and her party.

“Muslims have voted on the Issues of livelihood, education and development,” said professor and political analyst Maidul Islam. He also attributed the Mamata’s firm hold over the Muslim vote to lack of any movement by the opposition.

“Several burning issues presented themselves in the past five years but the opposition failed to turn it into a movement. They formed an alliance a few weeks before the election and expected to overturn this government. Sadly, it does not happen like this,” said Islam.

Jama’at e Islami-Hind (JIH), a cadre-based Islamic socio-political organisation in West Bengal, believes that Muslims have benefited during the TMC rule. JIH’s media and public relations chief Masihur Rahman claims that the number of Muslim students clearing West Bengal Civil Services is much higher than it was in earlier years. According to him, Muslims also achieved a much higher purchasing power during TMC’s rule.

“Aliah University, started during Left’s rule, was given a grant of Rs. 300 crore and many hostels for Muslim girls were constructed in the districts. Ghettoisation among Muslims also reduced in many parts during TMC’s rule,” feels Rahman.

The Trinamool camp is aware of the extent and importance of the support from the community. “Though the entire state has voted for us, the Muslim vote has formed the backbone of our victory. The resounding verdict from the community is a testament of the development work that Mamata Banerjee has done,’ said Firhad Hakim, a key minister in the outgoing cabinet who was re-elected from the Port constituency.

Today’s results showed that the Left’s pre-poll claim of having made a “turnaround” in the minority belts was just that — a tall claim.

Asked if he could explain the debacle, CPM leader Anisur Rahman said: “We will analyse the results and try to find the reasons behind such a rout among the Muslims,” said Rahman.

A state secretariat member on condition of anonymity said: “There is no denying that the Left Front tried to dent the TMC’s Muslim vote bank. But the minorities still fear that the Left may grab their land. The condition of the Muslims under the left Front reflected in the justice Rajindar Sachar committee is also fresh in their mind,” said the leader.

The Rajindar Sachar committee’s report on the deplorable socio-economic condition and educational status of minorities in Bengal added to the Muslim drift.