ABSTRACT
Muslims constitute the second-largest religious community and the single largest minority community in the state of West Bengal, constituting 27.2% of the total population. The significant numerical strength of Muslims plays a key role in the electoral politics of the state. Demographically, the Muslim population is thickly concentrated in the countryside of West Bengal, particularly in the districts of Murshidabad, Malda, Birbhum, Dakshin Dinajpur, Howrah, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Cooch Behar, Nadia and North Dinajpur. Sociologically, the majority are rural vernacular Bengali-speaking, lower caste non-Ashraf Muslims and are highly engaged with agrarian activities; recently there has been a massive shift towards the informal sectors.
In the post-Sachar scenario, the state of West Bengal has witnessed massive Muslim mobilization and assertion by different Muslim organizations, particularly by Furfura Sharif (the influential and popular Sufi religious network of Bengali Muslims based in the Hooghly district of Bengal), Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind (India’s largest Ulama network), Paschimbanga Sonkhaloghu Yubo Federation, All India Minority Association and so forth based on inclusion and development, such as reservation for backward Muslims in employment and education and other demands for socio-economic advancement. In response to the demands of these religious organizations (which have the potential to influence electoral results), the LFG and more particularly the Trinamool Congress government announced many schemes based on the recommendations of the Sachar report. The honorarium for imams and moazzins of the mosques by the Wakf Board of West Bengal created much hullabaloo in the state on the ground of so-called minority appeasement. This particular scheme of the TMC government has not only faced strong criticism by the Hindutva forces such as BJP, RSS and Hindu Samhati (a newly established Bengali Hindutva group active in Southern Bengal) but has also created a pro-Muslim image of the Mamata Banerjee. In doing so, the TMC not only attracted large numbers of Muslim clerics but also co-opted many Muslim organizations and religious leaders. These co-options and fusions have generated new discourse on patron-client relations, electoral mobilizations and identity formations in contemporary West Bengal.
This chapter examines the reasons and roles of Muslim religious organizations, particularly Furfura Sharif and Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Hind, in the political mobilizations of Muslims and their complex relationship with the electoral politics in West Bengal.
