Muslims constitute 30% of West Bengal voters; BJP eyes this core votebank of Mamata Banerjee

As the West Bengal Assembly elections are nearing, political parties have started to woo Muslim voters. This is considered the core vote of the Trinamool Congress; the Left-Congress also keeps an eye on it. Now BJP has also started expanding its reach to this community. BJP's Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya said in a meeting on Wednesday that our party's specialty is that 'Siraj and Jai Shri Ram' sit together on its platform. He said this because Siraj Khan, a former TMC Zilla Parishad member of Midnapore, joined the BJP along with his supporters. Vijayvargiya claimed that the difference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is that while the PM carries everyone along, the Chief Minister of West Bengal advocates a special class.

About 30 percent of Muslim voters in Bengal are in a decision-making role in about 100 of the state's 294 seats. Muslim voters in Bengal are considered the core vote bank of TMC since 2010. However, along with the Left and Congress, the BJP is now trying to bring the Muslim community into its fold.

In West Bengal, it is not easy for any party to ignore the Muslims and win the electoral battle. The BJP also held Muslim conferences to woo 30 percent strong Muslim votes in the 2018 Bengal Panchayat elections. The BJP had given tickets to more than 850 people from the Muslim community, in which 27 had won. In the 2016 assembly elections, the BJP fielded 6 Muslim candidates.

State President of BJP Minority Front Ali Hussain said that Congress and the Left ruled in West Bengal with the support of Muslim voters, and TMC has been in power for ten years. Despite this, the condition of Muslims in the state remains the same. TMC itself cannot claim to be the sole guardian of minorities in the state.

He said that for the last ten years, TMC had not done anything concrete for the Muslim community's upliftment, and just giving loyalty to the Imams is not going to help the community. The BJP does not just shout slogans but moves forward with the basic mantra of Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas. Bengal's Muslim community also understands this fact, and BJP will become their first choice in the elections next year.