Kolkata: The Asaduddin Owaisi led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has suddenly emerged in West Bengal politics after Bihar elections when AIMIM leadership announced its decision to contest in West Bengal polls in 2021.
Naturally, there are speculations whether AIMIM will actually benefit BJP in West Bengal by dividing the Muslim votes as it had done in Bihar.
However, in the current situation, the picture has started changing to an extent. Several top leaders of AIMIM in West Bengal have started shifting to Trinamool Congress. This particular trend started in November this year.
Incidentally, before the assembly elections, AIMIM suddenly announced that it would field its own candidate in the state Asauddin Owaisi, the head of MIM, is also scheduled to hold political meetings in West Bengal.
They have also started contacting various minority organizations to garner votes from the state's Muslim community. This has lead to speculations and apprehensions that like in Bihar, BJP will also be benefitted in West Bengal because of the division in Muslim votes in the state.
However, state minister, Firhad Hakim, the minority leader of the state's ruling party, did not want to give any importance to AIMIM. Similarly, the state's opposition parties namely Left Front and Congress did not want to give importance to the rise of AIMIM in the state. Since November this year, the trend of leaders shifting from AIMIM to Trinamool Congress started. On November 23, Anwar Shah, a top leader of AIMIM in West Bengal joined Trinamool. On Thursday, the young wing of AIMIM in West Bengal received a major setback as the young wing president, Mohammad Safiullah Khan and 30 of his associates joined Trinamool Congress. They were handed the Trinamool flag by Firhad Hakim.
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According to Khan, they want to prevent BJP from gaining power in West Bengal at any cost and hence they want to ensure that the minority votes are not divided. This new trend has brought relief in the Trinamool camp and they are expecting more AIMIM leaders to shift to their camp in the coming days.
According to them, various minority organizations in the state do not want BJP to come to power in the state. "And in that case, only the Trinamool Congress can stop the BJP," a Trinamool leader said.
However, if AIMIM can have little effect on the voters in the region, the division in minority votes is quite inevitable which will actually benefit the BJP.
After seeing the results of the Bihar elections, various minority organizations in the state do not want a repeat of the Bihar elections in the state. Trinamool Congress is trying to exploit this fear by poaching from AIMIM's network.
