West Bengal polls: With ISF joining Cong-CPM, AIMIM left hanging

Hyderabad: With the Indian Secular Front (ISF) formally joining the Congress-Communist Party of India (Marxist) alliance for the upcoming West Bengal (WB) elections, the All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has been left hanging.

In the run-up to the West Bengal elections, the AIMIM whipped up a storm after it announced its intent to contest the polls. Party chief and member of Parliament from the Hyderabad seat Asaduddin Owaisi indicated that he had almost tied up with ISF leader Abbas Siddiqui.

However, it now seems as if the AIMIM has run out of options, given that Siddiqui, who heads the Furfura Sharif Dargah, has chosen the Congress-CPM. Owaisi, who has so far not announced how many seats he will contest in West Bengal, has chosen to keep mum until now.

At a press conference at his party office on Monday, Owaisi refused to answer any questions on West Bengal elections, and on how many seats the AIMIM will contest there. “We will go to West Bengal, and I will tell you in peace. I have no friend. You can think anything that you want to,” he told reporters.

The AIMIM had also created a storm last year after it managed to win five seats in the Bihar assembly polls. Owaisi had tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and another regional party. Moreover, less than a week ago, the party also won seven seats in the Ahmedabad municipal corporation in local body polls.

Owaisi on Monday also said that the AIMIM will conduct elections in other states like Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. He added that the party is gearing up to also contest the Uttar Pradesh state elections (which the AIMIM had contested in the 2017 as well).

In the ongoing West Bengal elections, Owaisi has also not been given permission to conduct public meetings in the state. After the state police had not given him permission to hold a meeting at Metiaburz in West Bengal.

A political analyst/strategist who worked in Hyderabad in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections said that West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee saw the Gujarat election results and may have gotten scared (hence refusal of permission to conduct rallies for Owaisi).

“They only started campaigning in Bihar when COVID-19 norms were relaxed. So with a limited alliance they won five seats which is a big thing. It will be interesting to see what happens in WB, even without him not getting permission for rallies, as his personality has made a dent with Muslim youth in Bengal,” he added.

He pointed out that from its state chief joining the TMC to ISF dumping AIMIM for an alliance with Left-Congress alliance, a lot of things haven’t worked for AIMIM in West Bengal lately. “While, the party may find limited support confined to the Urdu-speaking regions in North Bengal, Asaduddin Owaisi’s prospects cannot be ruled out,” he opined.