Bengal BJP keen to grab Muslim votes, party leaders met Furfura Sharif chief

KOLKATA: In a significant development, two key BJP leaders in Bengal have recently met chief of the Furfura Sharif, Peerzada Toha Siddiqui on Thursday and held closed door meeting with him for two hours. BJP leader and actor Joy Banerjee and party's Hooghly district chief Bhaskar Bhattacharjee visited Furfura in Hooghly district on Thursday and met Siddiqui. It is learnt that the BJP leaders held talks with Siddiqui for two hours before leaving the holy place for Muslims.

Possibly, this was the first meeting between Peerzada and BJP in Bengal. All political parties including Trinamool Congress, Congress and even CPIM used to meet the chief of Furfura Shariff, specially before any elections in Bengal. But Thurday's meeting between BJP and Toha Siddiqui bears tremendous political significance as this was possibly for the first time that Peerzada had agreed to meet the BJP leaders.

"We met Peerzada yesterday and talked to him over various issues. The Peerzada has criticised the chief minister for not allowing Durgapuja immersion and and observance of Muharram on the same day. He told us that no Muslim has said that Muharram and immersion of Durga idols can take place simultaneously. In the past, such incidents have taken place and I think that the government, instead of imposing ban on immersion on the day of Muharram, should allow the two communities to go for these functions.

I am sure that a Hindu brother will feel bad as the government has imposed some sort of ban on the Durgapuja immersion on the day of Muharram and a Muslim brother too, will be displeased once observance of Muharram is stopped due to the immersion. The government, leaders of the two communities and the police should work jointly to enable the Hindus to immerse Durga idols and Muslims to observe Muharram on a same day," Joy Banerjee told ET on Friday.

It is Mukul Roy of the Trinamool Congress who used to meet the Peerzada frequently. Roy also met the Furfura chief before last year's Assembly elections in the state.