Mamata Banerjee’s spiritual largesse: An indication of desperation?

Because the 2024 Lok Sabha elections method, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, one of many principal opponents of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) authorities on the Centre, has proven as soon as once more that she has no qualms about taking part in the faith card whereas taking over the saffron get together. In back-to-back bulletins, she elevated the stipends of Muslim clerics and Hindu monks on the one hand and introduced a finances of a whopping Rs.280 crore for golf equipment throughout the State to have fun the upcoming Durga Puja.

With a bit of the Muslim voters apparently shifting away from the ruling Trinamool in favour of the Sanyukta Morcha (the electoral understanding between the Left, the Congress, and the Indian Secular Entrance or ISF), and the BJP with its share of Hindu votes rising as the principle opposition get together within the State, Banerjee’s bulletins are being perceived as a cautious balancing act to maintain intact each her Hindu and Muslim assist bases.

On August 21, addressing a big gathering of Muslim clerics and political leaders, Mamata Banerjee introduced a hike of Rs.500 within the month-to-month honorarium prolonged to imams, muezzins (those that name to prayer), and purohits (Hindu monks). With the rise, the imams will now obtain Rs.3,000 per 30 days, whereas the muezzins and the purohits will get Rs.1,500 every.

When Mamata first introduced a stipend to imams and muezzins in 2012, there have been round 30,000 Imams and 20,000 muezzins within the State. In September 2020, simply forward of the Meeting election, when she introduced a month-to-month allowance for the purohits, there have been round 8,000 names listed by the State authorities. Mamata Banerjee additionally promised to provide recognition to 700 unaided madrasas within the State and a mortgage of Rs.5 lakh with the State authorities as guarantor to any particular person from the minority neighborhood wanting to begin a enterprise.

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Utilizing the event to focus on all of the work her authorities has carried out during the last 12 years to uplift the situation of the minorities and, on the identical time, take a swipe on the BJP, the Left, and the Congress, Mamata Banerjee stated, “I’ve been ridiculed once I do roza throughout Ramzan; the BJP even modified my identify. However I don’t care… They don’t have anything to say once I dance with Adivasis or once I declare a vacation for the beginning anniversary of (Hindu spiritual chief) Matua Thakur… All their anger is directed in opposition to the minorities… Now some BJP leaders try to divide the minorities by giving money to some individuals… All people is aware of the BJP, CPI(M), and Congress work collectively in Bengal.”

Referring to ISF, which was shaped by the influential Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui of the Furfura Sharif (a holy website), she stated, “Now one other one has joined the BJP, Congress, and Left. They need to make him (most probably referring to ISF MLA Nawsad Siddiqui) an enormous chief through the use of cash…”

Mamata additionally confused that spiritual establishments ought to distance themselves from politics. “We respect Furfura Sharif, and I hope they won’t enter into politics. We don’t want Belur Math to enter into politics… Our faith is in our hearts and minds. We’re the primary to react everytime you (Muslims) are harm. Numerous States have carried out the NRC, however we didn’t and we by no means will,” she stated. It might be recalled that quickly after coming to energy Mamata was within the behavior of sharing the dais with influential Muslim spiritual leaders, who would, every now and then, even dictate phrases to her.

The very subsequent day, on August 22, Mamata held a gathering with the representatives of the Durga Puja committees throughout the State and introduced an enormous grant of Rs.70,000 every to over 40,000 golf equipment. Based on sources, the whole expenditure could be greater than Rs.280.19 crore (if the variety of golf equipment has remained the identical as final yr when the State authorities had doled out Rs.60,000 to every membership).

In 2018, when the State authorities first began extending grants to golf equipment for Puja, the whole value to the exchequer was Rs.28 crore. In 5 years, the quantity has elevated by greater than tenfold. The variety of golf equipment has additionally elevated from the 28,000 that existed at the moment.

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For a State authorities that always bemoans the dearth of funds to hold out primary infrastructure tasks, it got here as no shock that such extravagance elicited sharp reactions not simply from the opposition but in addition sections of the general public. Mamata Banerjee, whereas sustaining that the State’s exchequer was dry, additionally exempted the Puja committees from paying tax on the ads and the entry charges and elevated the concession on energy within the Puja pandals to 75 per cent from 60 per cent final yr.

Based on Mamata Banerjee, Durga Puja offers employment to many individuals, and a research carried out by the British Council a couple of years in the past indicated that the economic system round Durga Puja was as a lot as Rs.32,000 crore. “The determine might now be round Rs.60,000,” she stated.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee participates in a rally, organised to thank UNESCO for in accordance the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) tag to Durga Puja in Kolkata on September 1, 2022.
| Picture Credit score:
Swapan Mahapatra

Whereas psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty expressed doubts as as to whether Mamata Banerjee would have elevated the stipend of the imams and muezzins if the latest panchayat election had not indicated a shift of Muslim votes away from her get together, he’s nonetheless sure that her generosity in direction of the golf equipment is a calculated political transfer.

“Through the years, she has derived monumental political dividends along with her Durga Puja grants and different related methods, which created a form of patron-client relationship throughout the State,” stated Chakraborty. “This has efficiently helped her mobilise native communities in assist of Trinamool by making them depending on her get together.”

Chakraborty added that this can be a technique that the opposition is discovering tough to counter, and it’s significantly essential for Mamata Banerjee to proceed this pattern forward of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, even when it comes at the price of creating primary infrastructure that’s “woefully missing within the State”.

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Questioning the timing of accelerating the honorarium for imams, muezzins, and purohits, Chakraborty identified: “The panchayat election and the Sagardighi by-election had been an eye-opener for Trinamool. Clearly, a bit of the Muslim neighborhood shifted their assist to the ISF and the Congress. Our research have proven a shift in Muslim votes in direction of the Sanyukta Morcha in Uttar Dinajpur, Murshidabad, North and South 24 Parganas,” he stated.

The byelection to the Sagardighi Meeting constituency in March was an early warning for the ruling get together. Sagardighi, with its Muslim inhabitants of over 68 per cent, had voted overwhelmingly for the Trinamool within the final three elections. This time, nevertheless, Congress, supported by the Left and the ISF, received the seat by a margin of almost 23,000 votes.

Opposition accuses Mamata Banerjee of deceptive individuals

As anticipated, the opposition events reacted strongly to the brand new bulletins. BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, the Chief of the Opposition within the State Meeting, stated, “She is doing this stuff to mislead individuals. She couldn’t present jobs, she couldn’t herald industries, and there’s corruption all over the place. By rising the stipend by Rs.500, she is making an attempt to create contemporary communal rigidity. She desires the imam sahibs and muezzin sahibs to say that their faith is in peril…”

ISF’s Nawsad Siddiqui, reacting to Mamata’s allegations in opposition to the ISF and the Furfura Sharif, noticed that the Trinamool chief had no issues with the Furfura Sharif becoming a member of politics when it supported her get together in 2011. “However she has not fulfilled a single demand of the minorities, and as a substitute there was widespread corruption within the State… That’s the reason the Furfura Sharif felt compelled to re-enter the world of politics; and that’s bothering her,” he instructed Frontline.

Based on Siddiqui, such stipends to spiritual leaders shouldn’t be restricted to solely Hindus and Muslims however ought to be prolonged to all communities. “Such overtures to solely Hindus and Muslims would give rise to controversy and discord… The fact is that she isn’t eager about making these individuals self-sufficient. She’s utilizing them for her political ends,” he stated.