Bengal: Muslim MLAs look to Congress, Left to engage with Suvendu Adhikari

West Bengal's new BJP government’s directives, issued ahead of Eid-ul-Adha, have caused concern among Muslim community members in Kolkata and elsewhere in the state. Police action against Muslims offering Friday prayers in public places, demolition of illegal structures with bulldozers in Muslim localities and the ban on animal slaughter in public places and without permits have caused confusion and consternation.

Animal traders, Hindus among them, have reported that sale of cows and other animals for ‘Qurbani’ has gone down substantially. Newly elected BJP MLA Rekha Patra told the media that traders must produce birth certificate of cows and prove that they are at least 14 years old.

According to the new rules framed under the 1950 Livestock Act, livestock cannot be slaughtered without official permission, while the slaughter of animals below a specified age has also been prohibited. Written approval from local authorities or the Animal Resources Development Department is now mandatory for slaughtering activities.

Minor protests have also been reported over restrictions on Friday prayers in public places. While BJP legislators defended the restriction on the ground of public interest and objected to the azaan on loudspeakers and blocking sections of the roads for prayers, people have been quick to point out that on both Durga Puja and Ram Navami, roads are blocked for longer durations and loudspeakers used freely. Rules should apply uniformly to everyone, they said.

Elected MLAs of the Trinamool Congress raised concerns about the directive and its possible impact on the community. Apparently frustrated over the party leadership’s reluctance to intervene politically, they seem to have suggested that they reach out to other political parties and leaders to put up a united protest. Some TMC legislators from the north Bengal districts of Malda and Murshidabad are said to have contacted veteran Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who continues to wield considerable influence despite losing the Assembly election.

Chowdhury is learnt to have written to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, urging the administration to remove confusion and ensure that religious practices could continue peacefully within a regulated framework. In the letter, he reportedly suggested that district administrations identify designated places where traditional rituals connected to Eid-ul-Adha could be carried out lawfully and without tension. “West Bengal is a confluence of many cultures, languages and religious traditions. Every community must have the dignity and freedom to observe its social and religious customs peacefully,” Chowdhury wrote in his communication.

“Adhir may have lost in the elections, but he has not lost his network. Leaders from Malda, Murshidabad and other places still see him as someone who understands their anxieties and can speak directly to the administration,” said Sujit Chatterjee, a political analyst.

Chowdhury’s intervention was sought, it is said, because of his relatively cordial relationship with Adhikari despite their political differences. Both have shared a long-standing political hostility towards former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and, at different points in their careers, sought to politically weaken her. Despite suffering successive electoral defeats in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the recent West Bengal Assembly polls, Chowdhury appears to have regained political relevance in parts of Bengal’s minority belt after the dramatic defeat of TMC in the election.