Won't let BJP play Hindu-Muslim game in West Bengal, says Mamata Banerjee

Mamata's comments came just a day after the BJP announced Pragya Singh Thakur or Sadhvi Pragya as its candidate from the prestigious Bhopal constituency

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS') advice, were trying to polarise the state and create communal tension.

Her comments came a day after the BJP announced Pragya Singh Thakur, or Sadhvi Pragya, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, as its candidate from Bhopal.

“The RSS has briefed the BJP that there are many Muslims in West Bengal and so the BJP can sway the Hindu voters in its favour. But it doesn’t happen like this in West Bengal. I will never let the BJP play the Hindu-Muslim game here or in India,” she said while campaigning for her party’s candidate in Malda. The constituency has 51 per cent Muslim population, while in West Bengal, 27.1 per cent, or 24.6 million people, belong to the Muslim community.

The TMC is yet to taste its maiden victory from this constituency, which historically has been a Congress bastion. However, like any other districts in the state, the BJP has started to make its presence felt here in recent times.

In 2016, communal riots broke out in this district after Kamlesh Tiwari, who claimed to be a Hindu Mahasabha leader from Uttar Pradesh, allegedly made derogatory remarks against prophet Muhammad. Altho­ugh the backlash from the minority community was first directed towards the police, it soon became communal in nature.

In her public address, Banerjee also asked the central forces deployed in the constituency to understand the ground realities of the area before taking any action. “This (Malda) is a sensitive area. Please don’t do anything upon the insistence of the BJP,” she said. Malda shares a 173-km highly porous border with Bangladesh and several political parties in the state have been raising issues of immigration, cattle trade, poppy trade — all illegal in nature —plaguing this area.

BJP sources claimed the party in Bengal has been able to bring into confidence a large section of the Hindu populace from the border districts of the state as they allege that Banerjee’s appeasement policy with the Muslims hasn’t gone down well with the Hindus.

Recently, the TMC had also roped in Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed to woo voters in the North Dinajpur constituency. Like Malda, Muslims are a majority (49.92 per cent) in this constituency, which also shares borders with Bangladesh. 

While seeking votes for her candidate, Mausam Noor, who recently crossed over to the TMC from Congress, the CM said, “Modi has understood that he will not get any seats in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana and will not bag more than 20 seats in Uttar Pradesh — Mayawati and Akhilesh (Yadav) will get most of the seats there. So, BJP leaders are visiting West Bengal to influence the voters.”

As the polls neared this year, several top-shots from the BJP — including Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and several others — have been visiting this state asking people for votes.

After UP and Maharashtra, West Bengal sends the third largest number of Parliamentarians to the Lok Sabha.

Mamata also said her party will play a decisive role in forming the government this time in the Centre, relying on the Mahagatbandhan (Grand Alliance) of local political parties.