As Mamata vigorously accepts the BJPs communal challenge in Bengal, she falls afoul of her old allies.
Taha Siddiqui, Pirzada of Furfura Sharif, Hooghly, a leading conservative Muslim voice in West Bengal, is angry with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress government. He has voiced his disenchantment in public, saying archly that Mamata must not take Muslim voters for granted, knowing that the TMC can ill afford to ignore discontent within the community that comprise 28 per cent of the state’s electorate, that too months before Lok Sab ha elections, wherein Muslim voters’ support is crucial for the TMC to thwart the growing threat of the BJP. At a protest rally in Calcutta, Siddiqui said the TMC was as adept in communal politics as the BJP.
The immediate ‘provocation’ was a rec ent decision made by the government to give a Rs 10,000 grant each to all the community Durga Puja committees this year. For 28,000 such pujas across Bengal, the total expenditure from the exchequer would be Rs 28 crore. Openly questioning Mamata’s secular credentials, he said the government should not sponsor any particular festival. And if so, such grants should be given to other religious festivals too. Whether the government’s use of state funds violates India’s secular frame work is now being debated in Calcutta High Court, after a PIL was filed against the rationale of such a decision.
Esta historia es de la edición October 22, 2018 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición October 22, 2018 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
The Propaganda Files
A recent spate of Hindi films distorts facts and creates imaginary villains. Century-old propaganda cinema has always relied on this tactic
Will Hindutva Survive After 2024?
The idealogy of Hindutva faces a challenge in staying relevant
A Terrific Tragicomedy
Paul Murray's The Bee Sting is a tender and extravagant sketch of apocalypse
Trapped in a Template
In the upcoming election, more than the Congress, the future of the Gandhi family is at stake
IDEOLOGY
Public opinion will never be devoid of ideology: but we shall destroy ourselves without philosophical courage
The Many Kerala Stories
How Kerala responded to the propaganda film The Kerala Story
Movies and a Mirage
Previously portrayed as a peaceful paradise, post-1990s Kashmir in Bollywood has become politicised
Lights, Cinema, Politics
FOR eight months before the 1983 state elections in undivided Andhra Pradesh, a modified green Chevrolet van would travel non-stop, except for the occasional pit stops and food breaks, across the state.
Cut, Copy, Paste
Representation of Muslim characters in Indian cinema has been limited—they are either terrorists or glorified individuals who have no substance other than fixed ideas of patriotism
The Spectre of Eisenstein
Cinema’s real potency to harness the power of enchantment might want to militate against its use as a servile, conformist propaganda vehicle