By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
In the recently held panchayat elections in West Bengal, the CPM-led ruling Left Front has won 13 out of 17 Zila Parishad but not without some serious setbacks. An emerging Muslim political party was instrumental in sending the ruling alliance these setbacks.
The Left Front lost control of Zila Parishad to Trinamul Congress (TMC) in East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas districts and North Dinajpur to Congress. These elections were held in the backdrop of violent protests in Nandigram and Singur over land acquisition by the state government for some big industrial groups.
Both East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas are minority-dominated districts. The Left Front defeats in those districts are attributed to the land acquisition decision and subsequent protests against it that led to violence.
The minority community had supported the ruling alliance in previous elections. But disgruntled with the government over some of its policies including Nandigram issue, the community decided to form their own political party to fight elections. Consequently, People Democratic Conference of India (PDCI) was floated by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. PDCI brought 10 different smaller parties including CPI-ML, Bhartiya Bahujan Party and India Secular Party to form West Bengal Democratic Front (WBDF).
Talking to TwoCircles.net (TCN) from Kolkata, WBDF Chairman Siddiqullah Chouhdhry said, “This is the first small but important step and we are aiming for the next Lok Sabha and assembly elections and to bring secular parties to power.” He stressed that even though his alliance failed to secure great number of seats in this panchayat election, they were able to reduce CPI-M vote share which helped Congress and TMC.
PDCI had fielded its candidates in 15 districts and they won 25 Panchayat Samiti seats and 300 Gram Panchayat seats. Happy with the performance of his newly-launched party, Choudhry informed TCN that his party will have control on 5 Panchayats. He highlighted the need for Muslims to participate in democratic process actively otherwise they have to beg for their rights.
On how his party will be different from others, he said he will ensure that PDCI-controlled panchayats remain corruption free. For each panchayt, government allocates about Rs 1-2 crore for development work. His aim is to ensure that people get their rights.
Some CPI-M leaders are acknowledging the role of Siddiqulah Choudhry in their defeat. Chowdhury was in the forefront of the movement against the land acquisition in Nandigram. Most of the land owners were Muslims. During the election campaigns, Chowdrhury highlighted the plight of Muslims as observed by Sachar Committee and successfully mobilized Muslims to vote against the ruling CPI-M.