Mamata Banerjee proposed an increase in the monthly stipend for Muslim clerics, which she offset with an increase in the stipend for Hindu priests (Purohits), reportedly out of concern for the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Muslim voter base.
Source: Hindustan Times
The TMC is attempting to stop the loss of its Muslim voter base, hence the Rs 500 increase in the grant for Muslim clergy, including muezzins.
At a gathering of muezzins and imams on Monday at Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium, Banerjee made the news. “Our ability is constrained. I would ask that their (the imams and muezzins’) monthly allowances be raised by Rs 500. We would also raise the purohits’ allowance by Rs. 500 per month.
Banerjee continued, stating that whenever she attends events hosted by religious minorities, people frequently question her commitment to secularism. In the state, there are roughly 30,000 imams and 20,000 muezzins who are supported financially by the government.
Currently, imams and muezzins each receive Rs 2,500 per month, a stipend that the government initially announced in 2012. Eight years later, with the BJP on the rise and the state’s Assembly elections approaching, Banerjee promised a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 and free accommodation for the 8,000 underprivileged Sanatan Brahmin priests. Prior to the event, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader has also been giving gifts and assistance to Durga Puja committees.
The TMC lost a byelection to the Congress in February of this year in Sagardighi, in the Murshidabad district, signalling a deterioration in its support among Muslims in a hitherto stronghold.The valid concerns were validated by the results of the July panchayat elections. According to the latest data from the State Election Commission, the Indian Secular Front (ISF) secured 336 seats across the state. Among them, 325 were gram panchayat seats, 10 were panchayat samiti seats, and one was a zilla parishad seat. This pointed towards the ongoing decline of the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) support from the Muslim voters in certain areas of West Bengal.
Just recently, Banerjee addressed the West Bengal Assembly, emphasizing her government’s dedicated efforts for the welfare of minority communities. She highlighted that the financial allocation for these communities has increased significantly since 2011, when the TMC assumed power. Banerjee revealed that the budget for the state’s Minority Affairs Department in the upcoming 2024-’24 fiscal year is Rs 4,233 crore, a notable increase from Rs 472 crore in the 2010-’11 fiscal year.
As a result, Banerjee made a number of changes to the party’s minority leadership the following month. created a five-person committee under the direction of state minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury, who serves as the state president of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, and charged him with overseeing the minority-dominated districts of Malda, Murshidabad, and Dakshin Dinajpur. The Bengali-speaking Muslims of the state are deeply rooted in the Jamiat. By removing his oversight over Murshidabad, Howrah, and Hooghly, minister Firhad Hakim also had his profile diminished by Banerjee.
This was the CM’s admission of a gulf between the primarily urban and Bengali-speaking Muslims and their predominantly rural counterparts, as well as the former’s tilt towards the Indian Secular Front (ISF), which had supported the Congress in Sagardighi and is led by Furfura Sharif preacher Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui.
The chief minister stated that she appreciates the role that Muslim clerics have played in raising awareness of her administration’s welfare programmes, including Mission Nirmal Bangla, Janani Suraksha Yojana, Kanyashree, and Sabuj Sathi. “I have established a committee made up of several ministers to investigate the growth of Waqf properties. In three months, they will turn in their report. We recognised 307 madrasas without assistance, and this year we will recognise 700 more. Students who attend unregistered madrasas are not eligible for state government welfare programmes. With the assistance of residents in the area, we will locate the same.”
