Kolkata: Despite growing disenchantment with the Mamata Banerjee government over unfulfilled promises in education, health and employment sectors, the lion’s share of the minority vote is likely to go to the Trinamool Congress, which may prove to be a key factor in the battle for the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
According to political analysts and influential members of the community, Muslims, who comprise over 28 per cent of the state’s population, may vote for the state’s ruling party in a bid to stop the BJP from gaining a foothold in the state. During the 34-year Left Front rule that ended in 2011, a large section of the Muslims in rural Bengal gradually aligned themselves with the Left.
However, the Left government’s forcible acquisition of farmland in Singur and Nandigram about a decade ago and the Sachar committee’s report pointing out the pathetic condition of Muslims in Bengal eroded that support base, with Trinamool Congress being the beneficiary.
In the last general elections, among the major contestants 40 per cent of the minority votes in Bengal went to Trinamool Congress while the Left and the Congress got 30 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively. Political scientist Maidul Islam said over 60 per cent of minorities in Bengal may vote for Trinamool Congress as the community is largely apprehensive about how the BJP would treat them.
There have been a few low-scale communal riots in parts of Bengal like Basirhat, Howrah’s Dhulagarh and Malda since the BJP’s ascendancy in the last few years, Islam said, adding that the alarm within the community has further increased due to the BJP’s repeated claims of implementing the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act which may go against them.
Another political analyst, Udayan Bandyopadhyay, claimed that barring a section of dedicated voters of the Left and Congress, the minority vote will back the state’s ruling regime in the 2019 polls as a “fear psychosis” has gripped the Muslim community.
However, according to Mohammed Kamruzzaman, General Secretary of the All Bengal Minority Youth Federation, the minority voters in Bengal are in a dilemma as they are not happy with Banerjee’s government but are forced to vote for her as there is no alternative.
