On the midnight of February 18, a 27- year-old student activist from Bengal; Anis Khan died. The family members of Khan alleged that police killed their son. Despite repeated requests from the family the West Bengal government has not allowed CBI to probe the matter but formed a special investigating team or SIT.
But beyond the controversies,there is a warning for Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party. According to the family members, around 4–5 people came to his house in police uniform at Amta of Howrah district and took him to the roof.
Salim Khan,the father of the activist, alleged that he was thrown off the roof. This death has triggered a massive row in Bengal. On December 09, 2019, the lower house of the Parliament passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA. Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee took to the streets on 16th December against the CAA.
The Muslims of Bengal and across India were worried about the CAA. They understood that though there is no exact clause by which the Muslims can lose their citizenship in India.
But if the CAA is imposed along with the National Register of Citizenship (NRC)then there would be fear of losing citizenship. Across India Muslims and civil society along withstudents took the street against the implementation of CAA.
According to the last census, Bengal has a population of around 27% of Muslims. The voting pattern of the community has changed over the years justthe way the political power in Bengal and the leadership position of the community has changed over the decades. According to a significant section of the political analysts in Bengal during the Congress regime, the Muslim leadership used to be from the elite class.
At the end of the 1970s, the rule of the left front began. Under the left regime, the demography of the Muslim leadership changed as common people started getting recognition. With time, a new class of Muslims developed under the left regime who were highly powerful local leaders. Here, the power is not only in terms of political power but also in terms of economic control over the areas.
When Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress came into power in Bengal, this class of Muslim leaders joined the party. Recently, several reports have claimed that student activist Anis Khan had a conflicting relationship with the local Muslim leaders.
Significantly, Anis Khan stood beside Mamata Banerjee and her party in several issues like the anti-CAA protest. From the end of the left rule in Bengal, the Muslim vote share has entirely shifted towards the Trinamool Congress.
After the Narendra Modi-led BJP came to power in the Center, the BJP and the RSS targeted Bengal. They launched a massive expansion plan. Several riot-like incidents took place during their expansion process. And, the fear among the community in Bengal kept increasing. Mamata Banerjee was their only choice because the Left politics in the state is in a deplorable condition.
In the 2021 Bengal election, Mamata Banerjee achieved a historical victory. But today, the death of Anis Khan and the protests across the state by the Muslim students along with the Left student organisation clearly points out that there is disenchantment within the community against the TMC. To put it more precisely, a significant section of the Muslims in Bengal, mostly the younger generation have developed some kind of disenchantment against the TMC.
This disenchantment is not only because of the TMC's Bengal politics but also because the party is not taking on the BJP on the issue of Hindutva. During the 2021 election campaign on several occasions, Mamata Banerjee has put forward her Hindu identity. On several occasions, she has visited temples and chanted Hindu Slokas to prove that she is also a Hindu.
There is no doubt that the intention of Banerjee was not to hurt the Muslim community but to clarify that BJP does not have the sole authority towards Hindus. Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress during the past year has also allowed several turncoats who earlier joined the BJP to return. Many of these leaders have made antiMuslim remarks when they were with the BJP.
At the national stage, the Trinamool Congress has been taking a soft path when it comes to Hindutva politics of the BJP. For example, during Mamata Banerjee‘s last visit she met senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who is known for his anti-Muslim stand. Similarly, recently when Karnataka is burning with the hijab row Banerjee has been silent. No one can deny that suchacts can put fear in certain sections of the Muslims in Bengal.
After the BJP-led government has come into power, the Muslims of India has lost many things. But one of the most important losses is the political significance. The BJP has proved that they can win in the Center (not in the states) without the support of the Muslims.
This sheer fear has brought a tendency within the Muslims to shift towards political parties like All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) which is primarily run by the representatives of the community. Taking any particular section for granted in Indian politics could be a dangerous idea. In the last Bihar election, it was witnessed that a significant section of the Muslims voted for AIMIM and the party which had zero presence earlier won 5 seats. Here, the idea that the Muslims vote for the political party which will come to power also does not hold true. Similarly, in the Ahmedabad civic poll last year AIMIM won seven seats.
Here, AIMIM as a political party is just an example. In Bengal, there is no presence of this political party but before the election, a political outfit called Indian SecularFront was formed by the cleric of Futura Sharif that won one assembly seat as well.
It would be wrong to say that ISF or AIMIM might harm Mamata Banerjee politically in Bengal. But no doubt, sidelining the community or not showing enough empathy amid the rise of the Hindu majoritarian politics in India can cause some harm to Mamata Banerjee in the future.
The need of the hour is to understand the disenchantment amongst the Muslims and to deal with every little issue related to the community with empathy. The family members of AnisKhanhave said that they have immense faith in Mamata Banerjee but not in her party or the administration.
This is a clear message regarding what is wrong. Being one of the senior-most politicians of India it is expected from Banerjee that she will not allow any discontent within the community against the TMC to grow in Bengal.
(The author is an independent journalist based in Kolkata and former policy research fellow at Delhi Assembly Research Center. He tweets as @sayantan_gh. Views expressed are entirely personal)
