Leaders of a section of Muslim groupings in West Bengal made clear on Wednesday that the minority community feels neglected as the Trinamool government has so far failed to fulfil the promises it made to them before coming to power in May 2011.
Mohammed Toha Siddiqui, leader of Furfura Darbar Sharif — a Muslim organisation — alleged at a massive rally here that unlike what Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress had promised in its election manifesto, her government was merely duplicating what the Left Front had done in past years.
Claiming that Ms. Banerjee is taking the support of Muslims for granted, he said: “We have realised the truth about this government and it should now stop playing with the sentiments of Muslims. She cannot fool us any more. We supported her when she needed the Muslim vote but now her ministers and people close to her are not cooperating in our attempts to meet her with our grievances.”
“Ms. Banerjee claims that she has done 90 per cent of the work she promised but I strongly oppose her statement. I have doubts if she has done even two per cent of the work she promised,” said Mr. Siddiqui.
“She even assured Muslims that they will get 20 per cent reservation in educational institutions and government jobs but that has not happened,” he pointed out.
“The claim of her government that they have created 10,000 madrasas in the State is a lie. We will not tolerate such false statements anymore,” Mr. Siddiqui asserted.
Warning Ms. Banerjee that her government might not last for more than five years, Mr. Siddiqui said: “It is because of us that the CPI (M) government was uprooted even after 34 years of its governance so it will not be a difficult task for us to remove her government from power.”
“Eighteen months is too short a time to fulfil all the promises made to the Muslim community in the State but despite repeated promises by the State government to us, no work has been done for the Muslims till now,” he said.
Mr. Siddiqui appealed to Muslims to vote in the upcoming panchayat elections for those candidates who are committed to work for the poor irrespective of their political affiliations.
