Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui launched the ISF in Kolkata on Thursday.
Calcutta:
A new political party was born in Kolkata on Thursday and will join the fight for a slice of the 294-seat pie in the West Bengal assembly in the upcoming elections.
The name of the party: Indian Secular Front or ISF. Its main patron Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui, a 34-year-old preacher-turned-politician. It belongs to the family associated with Furfura Sharif in the Hooghly district, one of the most sacred mazaars in the country, second only to Ajmer Sharif.
The goals of the new party are lofty: the elevation of the backward masses: Muslims, Tribes, and Dalits. But his birth is fueled by discontent with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and could split his so-called vote bank in Bengal.
“When Mamata came to power, she said that she would give work and education and a 15 percent reserve. We believed her and told my followers, let’s support Mamata and my followers voted for her. But now you see that she did not do instead. , it created a division between Hindus and Muslims. So, I thought that we don’t depend on others to do what is needed. Let’s form our own party, “said Abbas Siddiqui.
La Pirzada staged a kind of coup earlier this month. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi flew to Kolkata in a somewhat secretive manner on January 3 and met him at Furfura Sharif.
Owaisi wants his party to participate in the Bengal elections. He had declared it, after AIMIM won in Bihar. He told Mr. Siddiqui that he was willing to fight in this state under his leadership.
Both vote-cutters mocked the Trinamool Congress. “Many are coming to help the BJP in Bengal, but nothing will make a difference. Be it MIM or anyone else, everyone knows they are the katuas of the BJP vote. They are insignificant,” Trinamool Minister Firhad Hakim said.
“They will have no impact in Bengal, where no one votes on communal lines,” he added.
BJP head of state Dilip Ghosh felt different.
“Why does Trinamool believe that the Muslim vote is its monopoly?” he said. “The Muslims of Bengal are the most backward. This is the finding of the Sachchar Committee, not mine. If someone wants to form a party, in a democracy, they have the right. But if someone believes that they own a community, it is wrong. If you want to have fun developing, that’s fine. “
Not that Abbas Siddique has no luggage. Her uncle, Toha Siddique, who is a senior Pir at Furfura Sharif, is known to back Mamata Banerjee. The nephew’s decision to form his own party to rival hers is a source of friction. Sources also claim that Abbas would have stayed with Mamata Banerjee if Trinamool had given him 40 seats to run its own candidates.
But his party has arrived. The initial plan is to form a front with like-minded parties and fight all the seats in Bengal in which a significant 30 percent of the voters are Muslim. La Pirzada has left a mark among many of them as a preacher. In fact, many see it as a social media phenomenon. But can you get the votes?
That question will certainly hang over the upcoming elections in what is called the Pir Impact on Bengal survey. He has made no secret of his ambition. In his debut appearance in his political avatar, Pirzada has declared that he wants to be the kingmaker.
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