Calcutta: Mamata Banerjee’s recently released Trinamool Congress (TMC) report on her rule of the past 10 years is conspicuously absent: figures on minority development.
The report card detailed how under the TMC regime, budgets increased two or three times in the sectors of welfare, health, agriculture and education of women and children. The report also highlighted the government’s work for included tribes and caste communities. But he did not mention what the government did for the minority community.
On the education front, the report card mentions the highly praised Kanyashree scheme for girl students and the Shikshashree scholarship for SC and ST communities, but does not mention the Aikyashree scholarship for students from minority communities.
This omission was surprising because minorities, especially Muslims, who made up 27% of the state’s population in 2011 and have been among the TMC’s key support bases. Even to secure a third term for the government in the 2021 assembly elections, Banerjee’s party has relied heavily on polarizing Muslim votes in favor of the TMC.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Muslim-dominated areas in South Bengal, which make up four-fifths of the state, stood firmly in favor of the TMC. In North Bengal, where Muslims have a higher demographic share than in South Bengal, a triangular battle between the TMC, Congress and the BJP divided the dividends between them all.
Mamata Banerjee herself has the portfolio of minority affairs.
Giasuddin Mollah, the minister of state in the department of minority affairs, offered only a brief comment arguing that the decision on his omission was the domain of senior leaders. “This department has performed well, it has had a significant improvement in budget allocation, and its accomplishments should have found a place on the report card. However, I have no authority to comment on why it was not mentioned, ”Mollah said.
Siddiqullah Chowdhury, one of TMC’s prominent Muslim leaders, however, did not hesitate to admit that the decision was a conscious decision made part of the TMC leadership. “It was not intentionally given. It would have given the BJP the ability to create a senseless uproar to downplay all the government’s achievements in the other fields, ”said Chowdhury, the minister in charge of mass education and library affairs.
He is also the chairman of the state unit of Jamiat Ulama e Hind, a pan-Indian organization of Muslim scholars and clergy.
Chowdhury argued that Muslims in Bengal, who make up more than a quarter of the state’s population but lagged behind on various socio-economic parameters, had benefited so much from government rule that they “would not mind this tactical omission intended to deny BJP an opportunity to play dirty politics ”.
“During the government of this government, the budget allocation to the department of minority affairs increased from 472 million rupees in 2010 to more than 4 billion rupees for 2020-21. Minorities in the state are primarily made up of more than 2.5 million Muslims, 66,000 Christians, and 64,000 Sikhs. Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians are small minorities, ”Chowdhury said.
He added that the government has included nearly 95% of the state’s Muslim population in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, which has a 17% reserve on education.
“The reserve in education has allowed many more students in the community to continue their studies. This year, out of the nearly 3,300 seats for the national income and eligibility test, 650 Muslims had the opportunity to take the test, ”Chowdhury said.
While he cited some of the government’s achievements for minorities, he mentioned pre-enrollment and post-master scholarships ranging from Rs 1,100 annually to Rs 60,000 per year, student hostel facilities in small towns in minority-dominated areas, and education and loans for entrepreneurs on relaxed terms.
Critics interpret the omission differently
Muslim leaders among Mamata Banerjee’s critics interpreted the omission differently. Mamata Banerjee’s claims to uplift the Muslim community are a hoax. The government has only spoken out big. If they had given the data, their lies would have been caught red-handed, ”said Md Kamruzzaman, president of the West Bengal Minority Youth Forum.
In West Bengal, one of the BJP’s main accusations against the Mamata Banerjee government has been that it has given Muslims preferential treatment over Hindus, who make up the majority of the population. The BJP has vowed to end the policy of community appeasement once it comes to power.
Even Bengal’s governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is well known for his bitter relationship with the prime minister, had accused her of “blatant appeasement of minorities”.
File photo of Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar with former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at his Kolkata residence. Photo: PTI
Political observers see this omission as an attempt by the TMC to win over Hindus, whom the BJP plans to polarize against the TMC citing the appeasement of minorities.
As the government came under fire for providing a monthly stipend to the imams and their assistants, the muezzins, albeit funded by the Waqf board, the government recently announced monthly financial assistance to Hindu priests from the state treasury.
Speaking about the well-being of the people of the SC and ST communities, the government claimed that the budget allocation had doubled since 2010 to exceed 2 billion rupees in 2020.
According to Samirul Islam of Bangla Sanskriti Mancha, a platform that focuses on Bengal’s cultural heritage, the omission was “a political move to pre-empt the BJP’s attempt to polarize voters communally before the elections.”
“In any case, I think the government, rather than reporting on the communities separately, should report what they have done for people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds of all kinds,” Islam said.
The CPI (M) criticized the state government for the omission. Md Salim, a member of the CPI (M) politburo, accused Mamata Banerjee of introducing the mixture of politics and religion in the state.
“In Bengal, politics never mixed with religion. Mamata Banerjee enabled the communal politics of the BJP. In effect, however, the department’s achievements are a major failure, even though Mamata Banerjee herself has the portfolio. There has been a major scam regarding the stipend and scholarships for Muslims, ”said Salim.
BJP State Unit Chairman Dilip Ghosh said the government omitted to mention the achievements because it would “expose the stark contrast” in the government’s attitude towards minorities and SC, ST communities.
“Furthermore, Muslims could also pick up on their lies,” Ghosh said.
Snigdhendu Bhattacharya is a journalist and author living in Kolkata.
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