AIMIM determined to fight Bengal polls in 2021: Asaduddin Owaisi

HYDERABAD: After days of verbal duel with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee , All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen ( AIMIM ) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday said his party would contest in the 2021 assembly polls in West Bengal. “Our fight is for empowerment, equality, justice and fraternity. The baseless allegations will not stop me, I will definitely contest elections in West Bengal,” Owaisi said.

A day after Mamata Banerjee asked people in Kolkata to not believe in “extremist minorities” and tagged Owaisi as BJP agent , the Hyderabad MP said she fears losing ground in Bengal.

“It’s not religious extremism to say that Bengal’s Muslims have one of the worst human development indicators of any minority,” Owaisi reiterated. “If Didi is worried about a bunch of us from Hyderabad then she should tell us how BJP won 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal,” he added.

There are 295 assembly seats in West Bengal, and Muslims constitute more than 30% of vote bank, making them a deciding factor in elections.

AIMIM recently organised 22 meetings, of which five meetings witnessed more than one lakh crowd, said party leaders. “AIMIM is spread across 15 districts, and we witnessed more than one lakh crowd in five public meetings. The other meetings we organised were smaller ones,” said AIMIM spokesperson Asim Waqar.

According to party leaders, Birbhum, Asansol, Cooch Behar, Howrah, Kolkata, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Nadia are strongholds of AMIM, Waqar said.

Empowerment and development of Muslims is the issue on which AIMIM has decided to fight. “Congress, CPI and TMC candidates have won from Murshidabad for 70 years, but the area does not have a university. Mamata Banerjee promised a university in 2017 after the issue was raised by AIMIM, but she failed to keep the promise,” added Waqar.