As the panchayat elections approach, the political atmosphere in West Bengal has started heating up.
Over the weekend, the battle between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) for the control of the gram panchayats in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas districts spilled over on the streets of Kolkata as ISF’s lone MLA Naushad Siddiqui and 17 of his supporters were arrested on Saturday for clashing with the police after refusing to lift a blockade in the city’s Esplanade area. The ISF, formed in 2021 by Furfura Sharif cleric Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui, was protesting against the attack on its workers allegedly by TMC men led by local strongman and former MLA Arabul Islam in Hatishala. The attack occurred while the ISF workers were travelling to Kolkata to observe the party’s foundation day. At least eight policemen were injured in the clash with the ISF in Esplanade.
At the heart of the confrontation is Bhangar, where the ruling party, also bogged down by internal feuds, is on the back foot. The TMC is also worried about the effect that the ISF’s decision to step up the protests will have on the Muslim vote.
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Bhangar, with a predominantly Muslim population, is about 20 km from the Kolkata suburbs of New Town and Rajarhat. Bhangar was first won by the TMC in 2006 when Arabul Islam emerged victorious. The party lost the seat five years later even as it swept the rest of the state but managed to regain it in 2016 when Abdur Razzak Mollah, the Land Reforms minister in the Left Front government, won. However, the TMC dropped the 75-year-old five years later and opted to field Dr Rezaul Karim, also a former CPI(M) leader who contested the Lok Sabha election from Birbhum in 2019. Karim was preferred over Arabul Islam, which sparked a fight within the party. But Karim lost the seat to Naushad Siddiqui of the ISF, illustrating how tenuous the TMC’s hold on the area was.
Starting in 2013, the Trinamool had to contend with a protest against land acquisition in the area. The movement started after the state government acquired 13 acres for a power grid project. Tensions rose the following year and came to a head three years later when villagers blocked roads and clashed with the police. Two protesters died of bullet injuries but the police denied opening fire and blamed “outsiders”. The government reached an agreement with the villagers in August 2018 to start the project.
But the embers of the protest movement did not die down and the ISF benefitted from the anger against the TMC. A senior TMC leader, “Those who fought against land acquisition are now with ISF. Almost all the CPI(M) members are also now with the ISF. So, the ISF has a strong grip on Bhangar.”
He added, “One after another, there have been corruption charges against us and the Muslim vote bank is in a dilemma. Local issues will dominate the panchayat election campaign. So, the fears of the BJP will not work. If Muslim votes slip towards the ISF and third front, then the party will face a tough contest in the panchayat polls.”
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Given this situation, Arabul Islam, according to locals, made a move against the ISF in the area. The strongman has had somewhat of a combative relationship with his party leadership. But despite not being fielded from Bhangar since his loss to the CPI(M) in 2011, he has been crucial for the party organisation in the area. Islam was suspended for six years on October 28, 2014, in connection with the murder of a member of another faction of TMC in Deota but the suspension was revoked two years later as the party headed to Assembly polls. During the last panchayat polls in 2018, Islam was again arrested after suspected TMC workers shot dead a man at a rally of Independent candidate Ishrafiq Mollah. Islam who was then the Bhangar II Panchayat Samiti chairperson was up against Mollah in the polls. The TMC leader is now the co-chairperson of the Samiti.
In the early hours of Sunday, about 16 crude bombs, one firearm, and a live cartridge were recovered from a vegetable farm behind Islam’s house.
The violence in Bhangar and the arrest of Naushad Siddiqui have the ISF and other Opposition parties up in arms. Peerzada Qasim Siddiqui on Monday threatened to bring Kolkata to a standstill if Naushad was not released from police custody. He made the comment at the state committee meeting of the ISF at Furfura Sharif in Jangipara, Hooghly.
Demanding the unconditional release of the MLA, Qasim Siddiqui said, “All our devotees, Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Christians, Dalits, Adivasis, prepare to come to Calcutta in the coming days. The next day, we will come to Kolkata. Show how many policemen you have and how many sticks.”
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Hitting out at the ISF leader over the comments, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the police had asked Naushad Siddiqui and his followers to clear the road but they did not comply. “It is not advisable for clerics to get involved in politics,” he added.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “Religious issues in politics came to the fore during the TMC regime. Earlier, no one could have imagined this in West Bengal. The BJP and the Trinamool have failed to work for the people and together they are creating an environment where conflicts are created between people. Any party has the right to carry out its political programme.”
Responding to Qasim Siddiqui’s threat, BJP leader Shamik Bhattacharya said, “We have to keep in mind that religion and politics should not mix. However, we are politically against the arrest of Naushad.”
The ISF was floated before the Assembly polls and it contested the elections in alliance with the Left and the Congress. According to the ISF, Furfura Sharif is the most prominent mazar in the country after Ajmer Sharif. The mazar has followers in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, and even Bangladesh. With the ISF, the family of the Furfura Sharif cleric made a return to politics. The family had played a key role in the formation of the Muslim League before Independence.
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