KOLKATA: As multiple videos of atrocities on Hindus by the Muslim majority in Bangladesh go viral on this side of the border, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal has evolved a new strategy to keep on the right side of both the communities, keeping electoral compulsions in mind.
The public outrage in large parts of West Bengal, especially in the districts bordering Bangladesh, forced TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to speak out against the continued harassment of the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.
Addressing the state Assembly, the TMC chief said everyone is concerned about the atrocities against Hindu minorities in the neighbouring country. Alluding to the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, she said: “A political party is trying to ignite a fire. Both communities must be watchful of this.”
Banerjee also responded to some provocative remarks from across the border. A Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader recently slammed India and said that Bangladesh would lay claim to West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. Another viral video showed two Bangladesh Army veterans claiming that soldiers of the neighbouring country could occupy Bengal within days. “You will occupy Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, and we will have lollipops? Don’t even think that,” Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister’s remarks are politically significant against the backdrop of Bengal’s political landscape. The BJP and its top state leader Suvendu Adhikari have launched a campaign with an eye on the Bangladesh situation. Adhikari has been leading protests over the atrocities against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, apparently to consolidate support within the majority community in Bengal.
Banerjee’s remarks, which did not name the Leader of the Opposition or the BJP, are an attempt to blunt the main Opposition’s campaign while projecting the ruling party as composed and restrained amid flying tempers.
Even as the West Bengal Chief Minister tried to calm restive Hindu sentiment, especially since a large number of Hindus settled in the border districts have family members in Bangladesh, her party leaders have moved fast to ensure that such remarks do not alienate the Muslim vote bank of the party.
The first off the mark was TMC MLA Humayun Kabir who announced that he would construct a Babri Masjid-like mosque in Murshidabad district by 2025, drawing sharp criticisms from the BJP. “The project will serve as a tribute to the mosque demolished in Ayodhya in 1992,” he said, vowing to bring the Muslim community together for its realisation.
Kabir, the MLA of Bharatpur in Muslim-dominated Murshidabad, said the mosque would reflect the aspirations of the “34% minority population” of the state. “The mosque will come up at Beldanga,” he said.
Suvendu Adhikari countered that it was an attempt to polarise communities for political gains. “The TMC is deliberately playing with fire by making such provocative statements. We demand an immediate explanation from the Chief Minister,” he said.
Senior leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who hails from Murshidabad, also criticised Kabir’s comment, calling it “irresponsible” and “divisive”.
While many in the party dismissed Kabir’s statements, it is the statements by one of Mamata Banerjee’s closest associates, Firhad Hakim, that have stirred the hornets’ nest. In a video that has surfaced on social media, Firhad Hakim, who is both Kolkata’s Mayor as well as Urban Development Minister and the party’s Muslim face, was heard making controversial remarks at an education event under the Firhad 30 initiative to train students for competitive exams.
“We are from a community that accounts for 33% of Bengal’s population. In India, however, we account for 17% (of the population) and are called a minority community. But we don’t think of ourselves as a minority. We believe that if Allah’s grace is with us, we can become a bigger majority than the majority one day,” Hakim is heard saying in the video. “It will be Allah’s grace and we will achieve this with our strength,” he added.
West Bengal BJP chief and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar has described Hakim’s remarks as “pure venom” and accused him of “openly inciting communal hatred and pushing a dangerous agenda”. Sharing the video on X, BJP leader Majumdar dared the Opposition’s I.N.D.I Alliance to respond to the remarks.
BJP’s IT in-charge and co-incharge of party affairs in Bengal, Amit Malviya, also slammed the remarks. “Kolkata’s Mayor, Firhad Hakim, previously revealed his true intentions by describing non-Muslims as ‘unfortunate’ and endorsing Dawat-e-Islam’s efforts to convert Hindus to Islam. He has now claimed that West Bengal, along with the rest of India, will soon have a Muslim majority,” Malviya said.
“Hakim envisions a future where Muslims will no longer rely on peaceful protests or marches but will take justice into their own hands-potentially hinting at Sharia law. This aligns with remarks from TMC’s Chopra MLA, who previously cited Islamic scriptures to justify an incident, where a woman was publicly whipped,” he added.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that Hakim’s remarks suited the attempt at polarisation which the TMC and the BJP have been trying to create in the state as a part of a “setting” between the two parties.
“The TMC will polarise Muslim votes and BJP Hindu votes, and the political status quo will continue in West Bengal,” the leader said. CPI(M) state secretary Md. Salim said that Firhad Hakim’s remarks were an attempt at creating “majoritarianism”.
Under fire for his remarks, Hakim offered a weak defence saying that he was a secular person and would remain so till death. “I am a secular person and will die as a secular person,” Hakim told journalists.
This is not the first time that the remarks of the senior TMC leader has sparked controversy. In July this year, Hakim said: “The blighted (or unfortunate) ones who are not Muslims and who have not been blessed by Allah need to be made aware of the teachings of the Quran. Even if one non-Muslim can be converted, then the path to jannat will become absolutely easy.”
“We are fortunate to be born into Islam and to have grown up as Muslims. But we must extend the invitation to Islam (Dawat-e-Islam) to those unfortunate souls who have not been born into Islam or embraced it. Doing so will make Allah happy,” he explained.
“This is all scripted and is a conscious effort by the TMC to pander to the sentiments of both Hindus and Muslims, keeping electoral compulsions in mind. After all, with the BJP in disarray, and the CPM largely irrelevant, Mamata Banerjee is moving swiftly to consolidate voters from both communities,” said Subhamoy Maitra, a well-known political observer.