Peerzada Abbasuddin Siddique, Congress ally and a Muslim preacher of Furfura sharif who got 30 seats to contest in 294-seat West Bengal Assembly elections, has blamed WB CM Mamata Banerjee for ruining ‘Hindu-Muslim brotherhood’. In a conversation with The Hindu, Abbas claimed that it was the West Bengal administration under Banerjee who stalled the Durga Visarjan because of Muharram. “Who demanded this?” he asked.
Money Banerjee gave to Imams came from Waqf property
In the interview with The Hindu, Abbas Siddique claimed that Banerjee’s government announced that they would give Rs.2,500/- to Imams, but they never told that the money came from Waqf property. “When the ground shifted, you (Trinamool) said you would give money to temple priests too,” he added. Abbas said Muslims only wanted what was their right and guaranteed by Constitution. “The biggest loss because of all this kind of politics has been that the brotherhood and amity between communities have got affected,” he claimed.
BJP flourished during Banerjee’s tenure
Blaming Banerjee for BJP’s rise in West Bengal, Abbas said that during the Vajpayee government, Banerjee was Railways Minister. When she became Chief Minister of West Bengal, BJP gained strength in the state. It was her who has ushered in the BJP in West Bengal, Abbas claimed.
Banerjee refused to form an alliance
Abbas claimed that he entered politics not just for the concerns of the Muslim community, but he wanted to raise a voice for the poor and the dispossessed who were cheated by the political formations. Interestingly, some time ago, Abbas had wished for the death of 50 crore Hindus.
On February 26 last year, when the world was just grappling with the news of the coming pandemic, Abbas had said, “Recently I have got the news that mosques are being set on fire, mosques are being burnt for the last two days. I think something is going to happen within a month. May Allah accept our prayers. May Allah send such a terrible virus to India that ten to twenty to fifty crore people die in India. Am I saying something wrong? It is absolutely blissful.”
Abbas claimed that when he formed the ‘Indian Secular Front’ and showed interest to contest elections, Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress refused to form an alliance. It was Left and Congress that showed interest in allying and agreed to his terms. His alliance with Congress-Left front in the elections is expected to hurt Trinamool Congress’s Muslim voters, especially in five districts, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South Parganas, part of East Midnapore and Nadia.