Kolkata: Indian Secular Front (ISF) MLA Nawsad Siddiqui has blamed Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for the breakdown in negotiations for an alliance between the Left-Congress and the ISF in West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
After efforts by the CPI(M) and ISF to iron out a seat sharing deal failed to yield a positive outcome, the ISF Thursday released its second list of candidates.
“I don’t know why Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury completely stayed away from seat sharing talks. I don’t know whose advice he takes. He is the reason why the alliance between ISF, CPI(M) and Congress didn’t happen. In 2021, he came and held a meeting in Furfura Sharif but is no longer giving it any attention. Even Sitaram Yechury said there was no formal alliance with the ISF when seat-sharing was clear in 2021,” said Siddiqui to ThePrint.
According to him, the two seats that created the logjam were Murshidabad and Serampore. He said the CPI(M) was only offering four seats to the ISF, which was not an acceptable number.
“We were ready to leave the Murshidabad seat because state secretary Mohd Salim was fighting from there for the CPI(M). But we wanted the Serampore seat, where they announced their candidate while we were still holding talks. We are ready to fight alone because the CPI(M) and Congress are unsure who they are giving oxygen to — the BJP or the TMC,” added Siddiqui.
Meanwhile, the Left has been quick to shift the blame to the ISF. Speaking to ThePrint, CPI(M) leader and candidate Sujan Chakraborty said, “The people will decide ISF’s position because it has decided to walk out of the talks and fight on its own. It’s a political party and has the right to fight the elections but this decision will only help strengthen the BJP and TMC against whom we are fighting.”
The TMC, however, claimed the CPI(M) was “using” the ISF to gather support. “CPI(M) was using the ISF for its own selfish reasons and that is why the alliance didn’t take place, but who the ISF decides to field is their strategy and the TMC will not comment on their internal matter.”
ThePrint reached Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury via calls and text. This report will be updated if and when a response a received.
The ISF, which has announced candidates on a total of eight seats, was willing to withdraw its Murshidabad candidate Habib Sheikh against Politburo member Mohd Salim in exchange for Sreerampore, but the CPI(M) refused to give-up Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader Deepshita Dhar’s Serampore seat, who will now fight ISF’s Shariyar Mallick. SFI is the student wing of the CPI(M)
The ISF has also announced the nomination of Noor Alam Khan from Jadavpur against CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakraborty. Bhangar, the seat ISF won in 2021, falls under this Lok Sabha constituency. The party has pitched Mozammil Haque from Balurghat, Jamir Hossain from Barrackpore and Mofiqul Islam from Uluberia seats and is likely to announce more candidates in the coming days.
According to political observers, the ISF is unlikely to see success on its own.
“ISF-Left combined could still stand a chance but in a key election like this one, Minorities are unlikely to support a party they know that cannot defeat the BJP,” said political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty.
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‘Can’t underestimate Bengali Muslim voters’
While the Left-Congress and ISF managed to secure just about 10 percent combined vote share in 2021, in the Panchayat polls held last year, they crossed the 20 percent mark.
This is the first time the ISF will be fighting the general elections from West Bengal.
Siddiqui was eager to fight against TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee from Diamond Harbour constituency. His statements before the media had clearly indicated he was ready for the challenge, but the party decided to field Mofijul Laskar instead. A decision many within the party claim was taken to keep Siddiqui as ISF’s star campaigner and not restrict him to one constituency in case of candidature.
But the BJP claims there is a tacit understanding on ground between the ISF and CPI(M) despite their differences. “All this is setting, and the people have understood one thing — they won’t look left or right but will come straight and vote for the BJP,” said MP Dilip Ghosh to the media while campaigning Friday.
But according to political analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay, it’s too early for the ISF to have any major electoral impact in West Bengal.
Comparing it to Asaduddin Owasi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Bandopadhyay said to ThePrint, “ISF shall not be able to establish its position in West Bengal. It’s very unfortunate that they are underestimating the political consciousness of Bengali Muslims. AIMIM pitched candidates in the 2021 assembly polls, triggering talks of minority votes being divided, but in the end, they supported the TMC. I don’t see the ISF making any big impact this time.”
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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