COOCH BEHAR: A BJP Minority Morcha rally, in support of the party’s Cooch Behar candidate Nisith Pramanik, raising “Allahu Akbar” slogans grabbed eyeballs in West Bengal’s Dinhata on Thursday.
BJP Cooch Behar president and MLA Sukumar Roy told TOI on Friday the rally was held with Muslims from two assembly segments, Sitai and Dinhata. “We will be holding a rally with Muslims from the entire district in Cooch Behar town soon,” Roy said.
Roy said this was not unusual in a district where the party had a Muslim panchayat samiti member from Bhetaguri.
According to BJP supporters, a large section of Rajbanshi Muslims from north Bengal, particularly from Suktabari area in Cooch Behar district, had participated in PM Narendra Modi’s rally in Siliguri earlier this month.
“The situation here is changing. People are now labelling TMC communal because the party always used Muslims as vote bank,” Roy said.
Pramanik had held a meeting two months ago where burqa-clad Muslim women were seen raising “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” slogans with the minister.
The Dinhata rally came a day after BJP’s Tamluk candidate, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, offered a chadar at Mahishadal dargah after praying at Gobindo Jiu temple of Mahishadal Rajbari during his campaign.
Modi had recently said that Muslim women would vote against TMC because of the torture of women in Sandeshkhali. Taking a cue, Bengal BJP leaders curated their election campaigns to exclude anti-Muslim rhetoric that had been used during the 2021 assembly poll rallies, and are making it a point to assert that the party is in favour of “Bharatiya Muslims”.
BJP Cooch Behar president and MLA Sukumar Roy told TOI on Friday the rally was held with Muslims from two assembly segments, Sitai and Dinhata. “We will be holding a rally with Muslims from the entire district in Cooch Behar town soon,” Roy said.
Roy said this was not unusual in a district where the party had a Muslim panchayat samiti member from Bhetaguri.
According to BJP supporters, a large section of Rajbanshi Muslims from north Bengal, particularly from Suktabari area in Cooch Behar district, had participated in PM Narendra Modi’s rally in Siliguri earlier this month.
“The situation here is changing. People are now labelling TMC communal because the party always used Muslims as vote bank,” Roy said.
Pramanik had held a meeting two months ago where burqa-clad Muslim women were seen raising “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” slogans with the minister.
The Dinhata rally came a day after BJP’s Tamluk candidate, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, offered a chadar at Mahishadal dargah after praying at Gobindo Jiu temple of Mahishadal Rajbari during his campaign.
Modi had recently said that Muslim women would vote against TMC because of the torture of women in Sandeshkhali. Taking a cue, Bengal BJP leaders curated their election campaigns to exclude anti-Muslim rhetoric that had been used during the 2021 assembly poll rallies, and are making it a point to assert that the party is in favour of “Bharatiya Muslims”.
