Author: Bureau
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: June 21, 2008
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/CPM_waves_we_hate_Bush_flag_to_woo_Muslims_in_Bengal/articleshow/3150667.cms
With its West Bengal unit finding to its dismay
that it's difficult to court Muslim opinion, the CPM appears to have decided
to use its opposition to the Indo-US deal for its Muslim outreach. This is
a tested strategy as communalisation of the foreign policy had fetched the
CPM liberal electoral dividends in Kerala.
The plan is premised on two assumptions -
President Bush represents a politically incorrect view point and that India's
engagement with the US is a cause of concern for the community members. The
Left has been using disparaging labels against those supporting the Indo-US
nuclear deal.
Flashing an aggressive Muslim sensitivity
card, the party believes, will help it contain the erosion of support from
the community. A steady drop in the Muslim membership in the party over the
past seven years and an erosion in the minority community's votes are discomforting
signals for the CPM. The party's own report shows a decline in the Muslim
membership from 14.9% in 2004 to 14.67% in the state where the minority community
forms nearly 25% of the population . The Muslim membership figure stood at
15.2% in 2001.
At present, of the total membership of 3,21,682
in West Bengal, only 47,190 are Muslims. The party has said that the Muslim
membership has declined in 20 states, including Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan (where
it has dropped by nearly half from 4.4% to 2.74%) and Gujarat.
The CPM, which is jittery about the slide
in the Left bastion than losing its clout in Delhi, is not taking any chances.
The party is expecting its unbending anti-deal stand to help woo back some
of the Muslim voters.
Though statistics are yet to be made available
, Left sources said a slice of the Muslim votebase had gone to the Trinamool
Congress in the recent panchayat election in West Bengal. The CPM had suffered
losses in districts like 24 Paraganas, Malda and North Dinajpur with a high
Muslim population.
At a time when the party, which grabbed an
all-time high of 8.34% of the vote share during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections
and a record performance in terms of seats, is faced with the prospect of
a drop in its score, the Muslim ire would only add to the Left's gloom. The
party's political organisational report finalised at the recent Coimbatore
Congress said more efforts needed to be made to recruit Muslims.
The party had anticipated a Muslim backlash
in the panchayat polls, but by then it was too late. By the time it began
a damage control exercise, the Muslims had started to distance themselves
disillusioned with the Left Front in the wake of the Sachar Committee report
showing that the Muslims were way down on the social and economic ladder in
West Bengal and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's utterances about
clearing madrasas.
What made matters worse was the state government's
land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram, in which the community was affected
severely.
The Muslim population is over 50% in some
districts of the state, including Murshidabad and Kishanganj.
