It must be noted that Muslims are being forced to choose Mamata Banerjee as their new leader...

West Bengal appears like a heaven to the rest of the country. In fact it is in a shape more dilapidated than one outside the state can imagine. Minorities here face more hostile a government than their counterparts have faced in Gujarat. Compared to Gujarat more people have been killed in Bengal, but unlike Narendra Modi’s government it has not been caught. The law and order situation in Bengal has taken a beating and administrative machinery has been politically and religiously biased.

I am sure you all remember the popular 2002 Gujarat Riots picture of a weeping man with folded hands- appealing to Hindu activists to spare him. The Left Front widely used this picture of the Gujarat-based Bengalee Muslim tailor Qutubuddin Ansari during the 2004 campaign for Assembly elections. Ansari and his picture were used by the Front to seek Muslim votes in Bengal. Then the Front promised to arrange to rehabilitate and help Ansari in the most humane way possible. But as soon as the election was over and Muslims were found to have overwhelmingly voted the Communist coalition to power, the Front literally kicked Ansari out of the state. The poor tailor felt he had been cheated by the Left Front and chose to move back to Gujarat.

Before the last assembly and 2009 general elections, this Left Front government made lots of promises to help the backward Muslim community reintegrate into the mainstream. But as soon as the elections were over it backtracked on its promises.

Some months ago the Left Front government announced reservations for backward sections of the Muslim community. The government took good care so that the news could spread all across the country to boost the image of the “minority caring” government. But few in the country know what happened to the implementation part of the scheme. The government identified some groups among Muslims as backward [OBC] and placed them in the reserved categories. But I can cite at least few thousands of cases in which young students of those OBC Muslim groups in the state have been actually denied the reservation facilities by the communally-biased administrative machineries when they queued up for the certificates. Communally biased bureaucrats and their officers have routinely been rejecting the applications of the poor Muslim students in the districts.

The scheme in fact has turned into a public scam now. It’s like they sold show tickets to public with behind-the-door instructions to gate-keepers to keep the gates closed when the public turned up for the show.

The government should understand that this reservation is an acknowledgement of the plight of a backward community and that it provides a remedial measure to uplift the down-trodden Muslims.

As I pick holes in the functioning of the Left Front government I should not be misconstrued that I appreciate the style of politics or policies adopted by Mamata Banerjee’s party. She is already a powerful union minister and appears set to take power in West Bengal soon. Yet, she has done nothing or hinted to do anything to improve the standard of life of Muslims, apart from resorting to some meaningless or hollow gestures.

She could have done something at least to make people realise that her rule, if she came to power, would be different from that of the present Stalinists. But as she closely follows Brahmanisation of her party, mislead people and indulges in the politicians’ well-known habits of making false promises only with an eye to grab power as quickly as possible, we become sure her rule would not be different from the one by the Front. In fact I am sceptical if she or her party members would even bother to listen to grievances of the Muslims, once she comes to power.

However, Bengal’s Muslims, who repeatedly kept electing the Front to power sees a bigger evil in the Communists, and have for now, decided to stand by Mamata’s TMC. It must be noted that Muslims are being forced to choose Mamata Banerjee as their new leader only because they do not have any other viable option before them at the moment.

CONGRESS WILL MAKE A MISTAKE IF IT DOES NOT REACH OUT TO MUSLIMS

The Congress party in West Bengal is clearly in shambles. It has been in the miserable shape in the state mostly because of its internal feuds, and not because of any external political aggression. Congress has lost its popularity also because its leaders moved away from the masses over the past decades and has turned into a party of drawing room politicians. A party which once dominated the political scenario of Bengal has been left with just a few legislative members in the state assembly today.
Congress high command should act in a war footing to do away with the differences among the party leaders. The leaders should not indulge in unnecessary groupism and should stop virulent campaign against each other. It’s time for the leaders to put their heads together and to find out ways to regain their popularity they had lost some decades ago.

The gradual decline of its vote share and popularity among the minorities (namely, Muslims) has been a key factor behind the erosion of Congress’ platform in West Bengal where Muslims constitute 35% of state’s population/electorate. Some half-hearted efforts were indeed made to improve the lots of the state’s mostly backward Muslims by Congress-led state government some decades ago [?] and then by the Congress-led UPA government in the past few years. But as West Bengal’s Muslims continue to be denied their rightful share in country’s development by the country’s largest political party, they have chosen to turn away from Congress. Muslims have faced systematic discrimination in the society, government offices and businesses. The Sachar Committee findings supported what Muslims have been complaining about discrimination for decades. But even X years after the committee submitted its report to the government, the Congress-led central government has not bothered to do address the miseries Muslims have been living through.



India’s Muslims have always behaved in secular ways and have made efforts to stay with the mainstream, and have supported secular political parties dominated by non-Muslims. Muslims have always accepted the leaders of secular parties as their leaders at the cost of raising leaders from within their community, for which we do not happen to find Muslim leaders at national level. All charges by some groups portraying Muslims as communal or narrow-minded are absurd. Muslims have been mariginalised in the society simply because they face discrimination in all walks of life. If the most powerful section of the society and the government treated the Muslims in unbiased manner, the community might have been able to come out of their ghettoes long ago.



No big communal riot has taken place in West Bengal in the past 34 years. Yet Muslims’ socioeconomic condition in the state has not seen any improvement. Despite using the key Muslim support it has stayed on in power for record stretch of years, the Left Front government has not helped uplift the backward community. The Muslims are now seething in anger and are preparing to teach the Communists a lesson in next year’s state elections. Taking advantage of the situation the Trinamool Congress is targeting to come to power through next year’s elections. Some time back, for a while Muslims thought that Mamata Banerjee’s party would offer a viable alternative to them. But now they are disenchanted with this party which appears to be paying attention at nothing except grabbing the power as quickly as possible. Many Muslims who turned to Trinamool Congress last year have begun backtracking in recent months and they believe that this party would not serve the community well.

At this point Bengal Muslims have begun thinking that only Congress could offer a secular and progressive government which could make sincere efforts to reach out to them. Congress, if it sets up a well-organised network extending to Muslims living in ghettoes- in villages, town and cities, will reap a good benefit in all terms. For the Congress the situation provides a very good opportunity. If Congress leaders make sincere effort to organise themselves well and reach out to Muslims, I am sure, the community will not disappoint them. If Congress can win the Muslim heart in Bengal, Muslims have the ability to propel the party to power in the state and this support will also in part help Congress consolidate its position in central power, for many years.

changing CM in Maharashtra will make any difference ?

Will changing CM in Maharashtra will make any difference ? I sincerely doubt that. As we have seen similar changes at state helm earlier too but then too the ground realities remained (read corruption) unaltered. I do not expect much from Mr.Pritiviraj Chavan as well, even if he is an honest and capable politician. My assessment of the situation is that the politics in Maharashtra is so glamourously lucrative that it spoils even the best in team.


The other abjure is that, it will surely initiate & consolidate another power camp (this time of Prthiviraj Chavan) within the ruling congress, to make things more worrisome for the congress & suffocating for the state partymen,the biggest threat to Prthiviraj is not from BJP or the Shiv Sena but from the Congress, within. His tenure will be a “litmus Test” of his skills be it his patience, reasoning or governance and as to how he would manage the internal rivalry and external alliance to keep himself afloat as CM.

Although National leadership has tried to contain groupism within organization by announcing a name not from state political arena, but then there is other side of the story that is, the current CM is an outsider hence will remain weak comparatively to the other local politicians of the state. Another, hurdle he faces will be as to how he would accommodate the former Dpty CM Bhujbal, who remains one of the most powerful politician, without antagonizing Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar, and Dpty CM designate.

Whatever the outcome I feel things will not be easy and smooth for CM to be, Mr.Prtiviraj Chavan, and his maiden experience as CM will certainly be a bumpy one, if not disappointing and corrupt. But then whatever the results of his encounter with power( and Pawar's) will be, I only pray that this be the last change of guard till next legislative elections as this will at least save some unnecessary expenditure on state exchequers pocket....