West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is leaving no stone unturned in her minority community outreach efforts, which not only include the Muslims but also the Hindu Matua community as well. Mamata’s anti-Special Intensive Revision(SIR) rally in Coochbehar on Tuesday is the third in North Bengal after two rallies in Malda and Murshidabad last week. The TMC supremo hopes to consolidate the Muslim minority votebank with the effort.
“She wants to give out a message to the people residing in these areas that the West Bengal government is by their side. If anything happens to them, the ruling party will support their voting right and will try to convince the party members to come together,” said political analyst Udayan Banhyopadhyay.
West Bengal has close to 30 per cent voters belonging to the Muslim minority community, which primarily is loyal to the TMC. Bandhopadhyay believes the Muslim minority can influence 90-100 seats in the 294-member Assembly. However, it is a tough battle for TMC in Coochbehar, with two seats of Mekliganj and Dinhata belonging to the ruling party, while six seats, including Mathabhanga, Coochbehar Uttar, Cooch Behar Dakshin, Sitalkuchi, Natabari and Tufanganj, belong to the BJP. TMC had won the third seat in Sitai constituency in the 2021 elections, before the sitting MLA was elected as MP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Rajbanshis, which is an indigenous scheduled caste community of Coochbehar, are in favour of the BJP as seen in recent elections, which puts the saffron party at an advantage.
The TMC has a tough battle ahead to combat the BJP’s domination in Coochbehar and regain the confidence of voters. The Muslim minority vote bank is her strongest bet, and hence, Mamata is trying to keep the Muslim voters by her side with the anti-SIR rally.
Mamata, who began the rally in Kolkata on November 4, the day the electoral revision exercise was initiated in West Bengal, intensified her protest by taking her rally to Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district, which is the Matua or Hindu minority dominant bastion, with voters’ loyalty divided between TMC and BJP. Both the Matuas and many of the Muslim minority community find their roots in Bangladesh, which fuels fears about the SIR. Hence, the TMC is looking beyond Kolkata and reaching out to people in districts bordering Bangladesh, including North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda and Coochbehar to raise the anti-SIR pitch.
The TMC supremo’s message is that she is the voice of the those who fear being questioned over unavailable identity documents required to get their names in the 2025 SIR list.