KOLKATA: Cleric of Furfura Sharif in West Bengal, Abbas Siddiqui, launched his outfit — the Indian Secular Front — on Thursday, prompting a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader to call the pirzada a “BJP stooge.”
The new outfit — launched as a platform for Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis — has come as an irritant for TMC, which has the support of the minority vote bank, particularly in North and South 24 Parganas where the influential cleric has been holding his religious jalsas for a couple of months. The two districts have 64 assembly seats, of which TMC won 56 in the 2016 polls.
Siddiqui firmed up his decision weeks ago after AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi called on him and promised to work with him. AIMIM is eyeing some districts in north Bengal while Siddiqui’s Secular Front plans to contest in 50-60 assembly seats in the upcoming polls. The two parties are keen on 100-odd seats with a heavy Muslim presence. Their “working in tandem” may affect TMC’s prospects in these seats that give Bengal’s ruling party a natural edge over BJP.
“Our aim is to bring the deprived classes into the mainstream,” the pirzada said. Siddiqui rubbished the charge that he was an “Owaisi clone and BJP stooge”, and had joined the fray to make things easy for BJP by dividing votes.