BJP’s first Muslim face in Bengal may take on Pranab Mukherjee’s son

Mafuza Khatoon will perhaps be the first Muslim lady candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party who will take on former President Pranab Mukherjee’s son and Congress candidate Abhijit Mukherjee in the minority-dominated Jangipur seat in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district.

Khatoon, a 47-year old leader, had joined BJP in 2017, leaving the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Her transition from left (leaning parties) to the right is driven by her “political ambitions”, said a source in BJP.

It was Khatoon’s fiery speeches during the panchayat polls that caught the attention of Sangh Parivar, and the RSS top brass, said sources. She is also believed to have got in some Muslim leaders to the BJP fold.


Khatoon, wearing a head scarf and saffron chadar, became a symbol for BJP’s Muslim outreach in Murshidabad and Malda over the past two years.

“I have been working for BJP for the past two years and have been respected by all in the party. I am inspired by Prime Minister Modi ji; he never said that he would only work for the Hindus and not Muslims. This campaign of calling the BJP a communal party is a ploy by the Opposition to malign us,” Khatoon told ETover phone.

“The party has given me a responsibility and I would take my party’s work and policies to the people. My party has Muslim ministers at the Centre, Muslim governors and many Muslim MPs in both houses of Parliament like any other political party. Some stray gau raksha incidents do not make my party communal,” she said.