A Prayer Sent Out Loudly

At the forefront was the BJP. In 2014, it insinuated that Trinamool was 바카라�going soft바카라� on Muslims with links to terror groups from Bangladesh, because the state government was initially reluctant to allow the NIA to probe the bomb blasts in Burdwan district바카라�s Khagragarh in October which killed two, and was later suspected by the central anti-terror outfit to have been triggered by a module of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh  (JMB). 바카라�Why is the Bengal chief minister not allowing the NIA to do its work?바카라� asked an incredulous Amit Shah during a visit to the state. And when Banerjee nominated Ahmed Hassan Imran, editor of Dainik Kolom and founder of the Bengal chapter of the Students바카라� Islamic Move­ment of India (SIMI), to the Rajya Sabha in January 2014, it was as though she was deliberately provoking her fiercest critics.

Allegations of appeasement reared their head again before this year바카라�s Durga Puja, Bengal바카라�s grandest festival, when the state government announced that imm­ersion of idols would not be allowed to take place from late hours on Dashami, September 30바카라�the final day of the festivities, marking the start of the immersion process바카라�and through the next day, October 1, which clashed with Muharram. Amid howls of indignation, a petition was filed against the directive, and the Cal­cutta High Court stayed the order, as it had done last year too, after a similar government res­triction. It called the pol­ice to demarcate separate routes for idols and tazias, provide security, and asked puja committees to seek police permission for immersion on October 1. However, few puja organisers chose the option; most stayed away and Muha­rram passed peacefully.

Mamata바카라�s detractors termed the episode a notorious display of her 바카라�divide and rule바카라� policy. 바카라�It is her way of pitting Hindus against Muslims and so trying to garner the all-imp­ortant, 30 per cent Muslim vote, which Ben­gal바카라�s parties think is the surest way of winning elections,바카라� says BJP바카라�s Cha­ndra Kumar Bose. Even though the court intervened, Bose claims Mam­ata had achieved her goal. 바카라�More than any fear of clashes between the two communities, since that has not been a major cause for concern in the past,바카라� notes Bose, 바카라�it was an attempt to create an effect that she was taking the side of a particular community바카라�.

Yet, for all her perceived partiality, Mamata바카라�s gestures are mere tokenisms, as opposed to solid on-the-ground benefits accorded solely to Muslims and excluding others. Many of her schemes are yet to be implemented or are sporadically operational. Members of the Muslim community agree.

Khadija Bano, head of an NGO in Murshidabad district, which has one of the highest concentrations of the min­orities in the country, tells Outlook about the disappointment Muslims, esp­­­­­ecially Muslim women, feel. 바카라�Ini­ti­ally, Muslim women were ecstatic when Mamata came to power. Here was a chief minister who was not only a woman but  also seemed to take interest in the community. But over the years, we are disillusioned. After the SC verdict this year on abolishing triple talaq, there was not one congratulatory word from her.바카라�

However, political commentators point out that while no generalisations can be made, there is a distinction between what Muslim women consider 바카라�benefits바카라� and what her male counterparts do. Prof Afroza Khatun, who teaches at Calcutta바카라�s Surendranath College for Women, tells Outlook, 바카라�As in other communities, often what a woman wants from a political party is different from that of what a man does. Though both Muslim men and women have earlier adhered to rules laid down by community elders, including which party to vote for, it did not always determine that the 바카라�development바카라� she was expecting from that party, especially in terms of ideological or gender, was the same as those of the males.바카라�

Are Muslim men, then, happier with Mamata and what she has done for the community? There are those who are content enough with the fact that Mamata seems to be, as Afsar Ahmed, a Calcutta carpenter, says, 바카라�on our side바카라�. While admitting that the community has 바카라�not been inundated yet with monetary benefits, doles or sops or even educational or employment privileges바카라� such as reservation, 바카라�the fact that she cares comes across from what she says바카라�.

Others are not so sure. 바카라�I can see thr­ough the attempt to please the Imams,바카라� says a Calcutta businessman. 바카라�Her att­empts to win us over by good gestures as doing namaz and attending Iftar parties don바카라�t mean anything. There have been some infrastructural developments under Mamata, like villages receiving electricity and road connectivity, but to say that she stands for the progress of Muslims is going too far. Progress, dev­elopment, improvement are not about pandering to a community바카라�s religious dogmatism, but about ens­uring that it is integrated with mainstream society. Muslim progress entails children바카라�s education, women바카라�s rights and equality with others.바카라�

Mamata바카라�s political rivals in the Muslim community go a step further to claim that the populist doles are cover-ups for the shoddy treatment of the community in Bengal. Congress leader Abdul Man­nan tells Outlook, 바카라�She is trying to make up for her total disregard for Muslims with these vacant shows of empathy. During her rule, innocent Muslims died in Bhangar (a Muslim-majority area in South 24 Parganas district where a people바카라�s resistance against the construction of a power plant was forcefully quashed). Never before had so many communal clashes taken place as now, whether it is Kaliachak or Bashirhat.바카라�

CPI(M) MP Mohammad Selim agrees, 바카라�She has been trying to win the community over by donning the hijab. But no work has been done on the ground.바카라�

Murshidabad MP Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury says that the premise that Trinamool will win the confidence of the Muslim community with gestures, such as banning public Hindu festivals on days of Muslim festivities, is also flawed. 바카라�It exposes the Trinamool바카라�s deep ignorance about Muslims,바카라� he says. 바카라�Muharram is the holy festival of Shia Muslims, who make up a very small percentage of the community in Bengal.바카라�

When Outlook asked about it to both Shias and Sunnis, the responses varied. While carpenter Afsar, a Shia, feels that Didi바카라�s gestures showed that she 바카라�cared for the community바카라�, Reman Hussain, a 30-­­year-­­old vegetable vendor, a Sunni, said that he had been taking part in Durga Puja immersion processions for 20 years and did not appreciate the sudden ban.

Coming to the current government바카라�s rescue, however, is Rezzak Mullah, formerly a Left strongman, who is now a minister in Mamata바카라�s cabinet. Dis­mi­ssing the use of the term 바카라�appeasement바카라�, 바카라�doles바카라� and 바카라�sops바카라�, Mullah claims that 바카라�real development바카라� has taken place in the community and as an indication of that he points out her continual winning of elections by the widest of margins. 바카라�If she wasn바카라�t doing anything for the community, why would the almost 30 per cent Muslim vote go to her?바카라� Since these gestures are seen to deliver the goods, this might indicate that Mamata will stick to more of the same.

By Dola Mitra in Calcutta