Kolkata: In the run-up to the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections, all political parties are leaving no stones unturned to malign each other and simultaneously woo the voters. The state, which has witnessed politics over religion, is now all set to see ‘communal polarisation of votes' in the upcoming polls.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi had earlier announced that his party will contest the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal. In order to make the AIMIM’s presence felt in the poll-bound state, Owaisi in early January had also visited Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui to decide on the candidates.
On Sunday, Owaisi sent eight AIMIM leaders to serve as the party’s observers across the state. According to a notice signed by Syed Ahmed Pasa Kaderi, general secretary of AIMIM, Jaffar Hussain Meraj and Mirza Riyaz Ul Effendi have become the observers of South Bengal along with the Howrah and Kolkata zone. Incidentally, both the leaders are AIMIM MLAs in Telangana.
Bihar AIMIM MLAs Akhtar ul Iman and Adil Hasan, who is the president of AIMIM youth Bihar has become the observer of Birbhum, Nadia, and Murshidabad.
Two more MLAs of the party -- Shahnawaz and Haji Muhhamad Izhar Afsi -- became the observers of two Dinajpore, Cooch Behar and Aliporeduar. Syed Rukunnuddin Ahmed Anzar Nayeemi became the observers of Malda, which is now a strong citadel of the saffron camp.
Significantly, Abbas Siddiqui, launched a new outfit Indian Secular Front (ISF) on January 21. While TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee calls it the the BJP's ‘B-team’ over apprhension that it will cut TMC’s votes, the saffron camp refers to the party as another vertical of the TMC.
Notably, Owaisi, a day before sending party observers to West Bengal, had claimed that their party belongs to ‘nobody but the public’.
According to poll analysts West Bengal, is now set to witness ‘communal polarisation of votes’.
“TMC claims that with the chant of Jai Shri Ram, the BJP does communal politics. The saffron camp, too, alleges that the TMC supremo does appeasement politics. Abbas Siddiqui has time and again said that the TMC had done nothing for the minorities. Now, with a new party being floated, it is understood that the state will see communal polarisation of votes,” mentioned the observers.
