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BJP to field ten per cent Muslim candidates in civic polls in West Bengal
Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party, which offered no seat to the Muslim community in the recent assembly elections, has decided to field ten per cent candidates from this community in forthcoming civic elections in the state, posing a bigger political threat to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
Already facing flaks for the Sharada scam which was allegedly linked to some of her ministers. this will add to her worries.
Muslims constitute 30 per cent of the total population in West Bengal and have largely supported her in assembly and Lok Sabha elections. In some of the constituencies the percentage goes up to 80. A major dent into this vote-bank may upset her calculations in upcoming elections.
What should concern her most is that this is not an isolated development. The BJP has been concentrating on West Bengal and Odisha in the east and Meghalaya in north-east in recent months and doing its best to enlarge the footprint.
Party president Amit Shah had camped this week in the state for three days and travelled extensively in the tribal areas including Naxalbari, where naxal movement was launched first, to wean away her supporters.
He has already strengthened the party units in the state and asked its followers to fan into different parts to seek support for the party.
Party workers have been asked to especially discuss the triple talaq issue in the Muslim-dominated areas and make the BJP stand on its known. The aim is to bring Muslim women who have been suffering because of this practice in.
They have been also asked to propagate that the party is not against beef ban in the state. It is a staple Muslim diet and demand for ban on it may detract Muslim voters. Therefore, unlike Uttar Pradesh and other states, the party has a different stand on the issue as far as Bengal is concerned.
Even when a large number of states banned cow slaughter, killing and selling of beef in West Bengal continued. There is no change at present. So, the party will made this demand to its peril. This will also go against its present appeasement policy.
The party has also chalked out some other strategies to pose a bigger challenge to Mamata. A membership drive has been simultaneously launched. Clearly, she has got some new areas of concern.
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