No Owaisi buzz in the two districts of Malda & Murshidabad in West Bengal

We will not support any communal party, our votes are for secular parties,” said Mohammed Ibrahim, owner of a garment shop in Malda’s Kaliachawk Block.

Ninety per cent of voters in Kaliachawk Block happen to be Muslim. Whoever you speak to in Murshidabad’s headquarter Behrampur, be it Suresh Kumar Mahato who runs a temporary garment shop by the banks of river Bhagirathi or Shahjahan Sheikh, a Maulana – seem unanimous in suggesting that the Hindu Muslim divide is not an electoral issue this time. BJP can try to divide and polarise voters on religious lines, but it will not have any impact, the locals stubbornly insist. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath made provocative speeches during his last visit to the area, they point out. But the Yogi, they say, is unlikely to make a difference.

West Bengal’s minority population which is about 27-30 per cent of the state are expected to decide the fate of at least 105 seats in the state. There is no better place than Malda and Murshidabad for pollsters to assess which way minority votes are going.

Murshidabad has about 70 per cent Muslim population and its neighbouring district Malda has 57 per cent Muslim population. But although Hindus in both these districts happen to be in a minority, communal harmony has never been disturbed despite provocations. Residents cannot remember when they last heard of a riot or communal violence. Both the districts were Muslim League stronghold before Partition. But Muslim representatives have never been a problem for Hindu voters, they again insist.

Murshidabad has 22 Vidhan Sabha seats and Malda has 12. BJP won one seat from Malda in the last Vidhan Sabha election and since then they have not been able to improve their standing. Residents say BJP’s gain in the 2016 Vidhan Sabha and the subsequent Lok Sabha election in the region were more the result of the in-fighting in Congress camp, a mistake Congress is not willing to repeat. In the last few decades, both the districts have been Congress strongholds. Malda holds the legacy of former central minister A.B.A. Gani Khan and Murshidabad has Pradesh Congress Chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to boast of.

They say Malda likes to live in the past. Ghani Khan was first elected from here to the Vidhan Sabha in 1957, and won the Lok Sabha seat for seven consecutive terms all the way till 1980. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, former Congress MP Mausam Noor jumped ship and contested on a TMC ticket but lost. People do not seem to be in any mood to bring about any ‘Poriborton’ or change in the district. Most believe Mausam Noor betrayed the legacy of Barkat Da, as Ghani Khan is still fondly remembered, and had to pay the price. Local pollsters hold Noor’s decision to contest on a TMC ticket responsible for BJP’s win in Malda North Seat.

It is also noteworthy that in spite of being in power for 10 years and repeated efforts, TMC has not been able to win a single Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha seat from Malda.

“In 2016 we contested nine seats in alliance with the Left. We lost one. This time we are confident of wresting it back from BJP,” said District Congress General Secretary Mohmmad Masood. “BJP would not even be able to open its account here this time,” he claims.

Mohammad Ali, TMC leader from Murshidabad and the party’s Lalbagh candidate said BJP has no ground here. “They will be nothing more than vote stealers,” he quips.

Murshidabad resident Imam Rakib said, “Though certain parties are trying to give communal overtones to the election, they will not succeed. Hindu-Muslim solidarity and brotherhood remains as strong as ever here.”

“Muslim voters will keep in mind their own future, Bengal’s future and the increasing communal tension nationwide while voting,” said Mohammad Ataullah, a Muslim scholar and historian in Malda. Mohammad Abdul Rafiq, Director of Malda Muslim Institute agrees. “Voters here do not subscribe or respond to caste and communal politics. We would only vote for a secular party,” he added.

Sushant Ghosh of village Raghunathpur near Farakka Barrage said, “There are a lot of big talk going on, happens before every election. But locals are not going to fall for anything. There are only two parties here, Congress and TMC. No third party is going to have any luck.”

“BJP has been playing its dirty tricks but people have now figured out the game. There is a long tradition of communal harmony in Malda, BJP does not stand a chance here,” social activist Shabnam Jahan said.