Mamata visits Furfura Sharif for Iftar, sparking political speculation

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee attended Iftar at Furfura Sharif in Jangipara on Monday, March 17, 2025. Image source: x/@mamataofficial

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Furfura Sharif in the Jangipara area of ​​Hooghly on Monday and attended the famous religious site along with Imams and Peerzadas.

The Chief Minister said: “I exchanged greetings to Holi and I express my best wishes for the holy month of Ramadan. She also added that solidarity and public friendliness are the foundation of society.

A few days after Furfura Sharif met the President of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) and MLA Nawsad Siddique. He came from the family of Peerzadas, as well as the religious leader of the Furfura Sharif shrine, and held a party with Abbas Siddique, a famous religious missionary who was before the 2021 Congress poll.

Muslim Voting Bank

Politics in the state are boiling, and the opposition Suvendu Adhikari is currently speaking against opposition leaders of the Muslim MLA.

Mr Adhikari said Ms Banerjee’s purpose was to merge her voting bank. He said the Chief Minister visited Furfura Sharif before each meeting conducted an investigation and claimed she did not give much attention after the election.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also spoke on a similar topic and said the visit was to win the base of Muslims. Muslim voters in the state have been firmly behind Trinamool Congress for 14 years in power. Despite the emergence of parties like the ISF, ethnic minorities continue to support the Trinamool Congress.

The ISF has formed an electoral alliance with the left and Congress in a 2021 parliamentary poll, but it has not impressed. Nawsad Siddique, representing the Bhangar Parliamentary seat, played against Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee from the Diamond Harbor seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls.

At the meeting between Nawsad Siddique and the Chief Minister, the BJP leadership, in particular Suvendu Adhikari, accused the ISF leaders of being “Team B of the Trinamool Congress.” Mr Siddique said: “Trinamool claims we are the B team of BJP, who claims we are the B team of Trinamool.”