West Bengal Elections 2021 - Mamata's Muslim Gameplan

The rise of new political contenders threatens Mamata Banerjee’s once assured vote bank. How does the West Bengal chief minister propose to retain it?

- Romita Datta

It was the end of May 2019. The BJP’s aggressive campaign against Mamata Banerjee’s appeasement politics bore fruit as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) lost 12 seats in the parliamentary election to wind up with a reduced tally of just 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. Hardly had the West Bengal chief minister got time to adjust to the new reality of the BJP becoming her chief challenger than a seemingly innocuous question at a post-results press conference on whether she’ll attend Iftaar parties threw her into a temper. “I appease Muslims, no?” she said. “I’ll go there a hundred times. Je goru doodh dei tar lathi-o khete hoi (I am willing to be kicked by a cow that gives milk).” Nothing, she made it clear, would stop her from changing her sta nce towards a community that had fetched her rich political dividend. Of the TMC’s 43.3 per cent vote share in 2019, Muslims accounted for 23.3 per cent. Min orities comprise 30 per cent (roughly 30 million) of Bengal’s population.

However, nearly two years later, with the assembly election looming in March-April, Mamata appears unsure about what till recently see med an assured vote bank. The choice has become equally vexed for the Muslim voter as too many political players have thrown their hats in the ring.