THE THIRD DIMENSION

A broad ‘secular’ alliance is in the works in the run-up to the West Bengal assembly election, with the Congress-Left combine warming to influential Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui and his Indian Secular Front (ISF), launched on January 21

- Romita Datta

Siddiqui is the 33-year-old pirzada of the Furfura Sharif shrine, which controls over 3,000 mosques in Bengal and holds sway among Muslims in the South Bengal districts of Hooghly, Howrah, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas. His ISF includes eight organisations, representing Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes and the Hindu Matuas, and promises Muslims and other ‘weaker sections’ a new deal based not on appeasement politics but their rightful place in society. “We will play kingmaker this time (assembly election),” Siddiqui tells the surging crowd at one of the numerous rallies he has been holding. They cheer in support.

The Congress and the Left have finalised seat distribution in 230 of the 294 constituencies and are reportedly ready to give Siddiqui a chunk of the remaining 60-odd seats. Siddiqui is cold to the offer. “If interested in an alliance, they (Congress-Left) should begin seat-sharing negotiations with me. I gather they have finalised 230 seats between themselves. That does not leave too many options for me,” he says.

Seat distribution isn’t the only impediment. Any electoral pact between the three parties will also hinge on Siddiqui willing to dissociate himself from Asaduddin Owaisi and his AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen)—seen by many as the ‘BJP’s B team’. Owaisi plans to contest the Bengal election and has been in talks with Siddiqui.