In battleground Nandigram, ISF’s Abbas Siddiqui draws large crowd

Abbas Siddiqui, the Indian Secular Front (ISF) chief, visited Nandigrm to drum up support for Minakshi Mukherjee, a 36-year-old first-time contestant who has been fielded by the Left-Congress-ISF alliance against CM Banerjee and Adhikari.

ISF supremo Abbas Siddiqui at Feb 28 Left-Cong-ISF rally. (File photo)

Nandigram is poised for a high-stakes battle between two heavyweights—West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former protege Suvendu Adhikari who has switched over to the BJP.

However, the town witnessed a large crowd for another key player—Abbas Siddiqui, the Indian Secular Front (ISF) chief, who came here to drum up support for Minakshi Mukherjee, a 36-year-old first-time contestant who has been fielded by the Left-Congress-ISF alliance against CM Banerjee and Adhikari.

“I had no plans to visit Nandigram again, but here my younger daughter (Minakshi) is fighting bravely. So, I decided to come here again before the election,” Siddiqui said while addressing the gathering. ISF had organised a rally for their two candidates–Minakshi from Nandigram and Ashish Guchhait from Chandipur.

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“We do not want to beg. We need work, we need employment. We want the youth to select his or her job as per their requirement and choice. After forming the United Front government, we will bring employment,” Siddiqui said while drawing loud cheers from the audience.

The ISF supremo further mounted an attack on CM Banerjee and accused her of creating friction within communities.

“Mamata Banerjee had allied with the BJP in 1998. She had promised BJP then that she would make space for BJP in the state. She divided us. Historically, CPM and Congress have fought against the BJP in the state. In 34 years of Left rule, we never faced any Hindu-Muslim confrontation,” Siddiqui said while appealing the gathering to vote for the United Front.

Nandigram will go to the polls in the second phase on April 1.

Atri Mitra

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

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West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021

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