As ISF sends alliance proposal to Left for Assembly polls, ‘cautious’ CPI(M) weighs

Sources at Alimuddin Street, the headquarters of CPI(M), confirmed that Bose has received the letter, but no decision has been taken. When asked about the ISF leader’s letter, CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Salim said, “Biman da will later say about this.”

However, a senior state CPI(M) leader said, “We are not against an alliance with the ISF. If they join hands with us, we will get an advantage in some of the pockets. But the problem is what they did in the last Lok Sabha election. That damaged us.”

The leader was referring to the ISF snapping ties at the last moment in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and then going on to field candidates against the CPI(M) and Congress in some of the closely-contested seats.

“So, we are cautious. and don’t want a repeat in the upcoming Assembly election,” the leader added.

West Bengal has more than 30 per cent Muslim votes. Of which, more than 50 per cent are Bengali-speaking Muslims. Furfura Sharif and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) have a major impact among the Bengali-speaking Muslims.

The ISF was formed in 2021 by Furfura Sharif cleric Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui. It then had an alliance with the CPI(M) and other Left parties and the Congress. While CPI(M) and the Congress failed to win a single Assembly seat in 2021, ISF’s Naushad Siddiqui won from Bhangar. However, after the Assembly election, the alliance between the Left-Congress and the ISF broke.

In the 2023 panchayat election, the ISF emerged as a force in Muslim pockets of Bengal and performed well. The ISF won 336 seats –  325 seats in Gram Panchayat, 10 seats in Panchayat Samiti, and only one Zila Parishad seat– across the state in the three-tier panchayat election. The party performed well in North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Malda districts. The ISF also got seats in Murshidabad and Birbhum districts.