All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday announced a new alliance with suspended Trinamool Congress MLA
Humayun Kabir’s newly formed party to contest the Assembly elections, posing a substantial and unprecedented threat to Mamata Banerjee’s Muslim vote bank.
He also attacked the
chief minister and Trinamool supremo for allegedly using Muslims as a vote bank
and doing nothing for the community.
This comes amid concerns within Trinamool about losing lakhs of Muslim voters still under adjudication following the ongoing SIR drive. Bengal has around
30 per cent Muslim population who have played a key role
in keeping Mamata in power for years.
Though Owaisi claimed that the final seat-sharing arrangement would be announced by Thursday, sources said the AIMIM was likely to contest only 10–12 seats and leave the larger share to Kabir, who formed the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) after a much-hyped foundation stone laying ceremony of a neo-Babri Masjid in Murshidabad.
Kabir’s AJUP has already announced 153 candidates for the Assembly polls and is expected to declare a few more soon in coordination with the AIMIM, taking the total to nearly 200.
The AJUP has received the ‘whistle’ as its party
symbol.
“We have formed an alliance with Humayun Kabir to stop the exploitation of backward classes, empower the weakest and secure a rightful share in politics. These are the aims of our alliance. I disagree with my brother (Kabir) on only one point — he talks about making someone a deputy in the next cabinet. But I vow to make the chief minister of Bengal from our alliance,” Owaisi told reporters at a New Town hotel on Wednesday morning.
During the hourlong news meet, Owaisi made it clear that the alliance would strongly campaign against Trinamool on Muslims development in Bengal. He also accused Trinamool of indirectly helping the BJP gain ground in Bengal.
“In 2016, the BJP won three seats, and in 2021, it won 77. Was it me who helped the BJP grow?” asked the AIMIM chief when questioned about the charge that his party plays the BJP’s ‘B-team’ by splitting minority votes.
“Who is the person with whom Mamata Banerjee had ‘dhokla’ after the Gujarat violence? Who supported the BJP government?” he added, targeting Mamata.
Owaisi, who announced a public rally on April 1 in Behrampore, Murshidabad, indicated that the alliance would centre its campaign around what it sees as Trinamool’s weak points in protecting its minority vote base.
“Five lakh OBC certificates were cancelled, and many of those affected are Muslims. Is this not an issue?” he said. “Mamata Banerjee had claimed she would not allow the implementation of the Waqf Amendment Act, but she could not stop it. Will this not be an issue?”
Trinamool, however, has largely centred its campaign around the SIR. Sources said the party used it to build a narrative that the Election Commission, allegedly in collusion with the BJP, was removing names of genuine voters, many of them Muslims.
Mamata’s move to approach the Supreme Court has reinforced her image among Muslim voters as a defender of their voting rights.
Owaisi dismissed these efforts as mere “show-off”, alleging that Trinamool failed to assist Muslims with documentation during the SIR process, leaving many on the ‘under-adjudication’ list.
“We opposed the SIR in the Supreme Court during the Bihar exercise.... Now Trinamool is protesting against it. But the state government should have helped Muslim citizens by providing proper documents, which it did not,” Owaisi said.
In the last Bengal Assembly elections, the AIMIM fielded six candidates, but all of them lost. Five years later,
the party appears more serious this time. Kabir said
Owaisi would address 20 public rallies across Bengal, starting April 1 in Behrampore. Imran Solanki, the Bengal head of Owaisi’s party, claimed the alliance would fight unitedly.
Political scientists believe the alliance might have only a limited impact, mainly in Muslim-majority districts such as Malda, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur.
“True, many Muslims want a party of their own. But this alliance is unlikely to significantly dent Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank because of her strong stance during the SIR period. Without the SIR issue, the alliance might have had a greater impact,” said political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.
Trinamool spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said that the AIMIM ultimately benefited the BJP by splitting minority votes, which “would not succeed in Bengal”.
“They tried this before, but Muslims in Bengal know that Mamata Banerjee is the leader who fights for their rights. Their efforts, backed by the BJP, will not work in this election. The picture will be clear on May 4 (day of results),” he said.