ISF shrugs off 'communal' tag amid Congress rift on tie-up; blames BJP & TMC's IT Cell

Amid the rift within Congress over the tie-up with the Indian Secular Front, its chairman Naushad Siddiqui asserted on Tuesday that it is wrong to brand his party as "communal". Founded by influential Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui on January 21, ISF has been touted as a platform for Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis residing in the state. Siddiqui was responding to Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma who contended that this alliance for the West Bengal Assembly polls was against the Congress' core ideology. Moreover, he stressed that Congress cannot be selective in fighting communalists.

Speaking to the media after a meeting with Left leaders at the CPI(M) office in Kolkata, Siddiqui lamented that ISF was being singled out on the basis of the clothes worn by its members. At the same time, he quashed speculation about a rift with the Sonia Gandhi-led party and cited the huge attendance at the Brigade Parade ground to assert that the alliance will form the government in WB. Moreover, he blamed the BJP and TMC's IT Cell for trying to concoct fissures between ISF and Congress. 

ISF chairman Naushad Siddiqui remarked, "There is no need to respond to BJP and TMC. The people who came to Brigade (rally) showed they are opposed to BJP and TMC and in support of the alliance. Regarding Congress, there is no rift between us. This BJP and TMC IT Cell is trying to create a rift. We are united, we will fight together and form the government in 2021. I don't know on what basis they are calling us communal. Is it on the basis of our dress code? If so, they should refer to the Constitution and preach the dress to be worn during the election campaign. It is not a good thing to call someone communal or secular based on the dress code."

Read: BJP Mocks Cong-ISF Alliance; Says ‘Thugbandhan’ Group Don't Opt For Politics Of Reform

Seat-sharing deal in the works

Once considered a vocal supporter of the Trinamool Congress in the past, Abbas Siddiqui has been taking on the state government in the recent past. After AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi's overtures to the cleric, Congress too initiated its efforts to solicit his support. In a letter addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on February 4, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Abdul Mannan backed an alliance with the cleric's party citing that the latter is a threat to all "secular parties".

On February 26, Siddiqui claimed that the Left had allocated it 30 seats while revealing that the seat-sharing talks with Congress are still underway. During the joint Congress-Left-ISF rally held at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground two days earlier, fissures in the alliance came to the fore. For instance, WB Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was visibly peeved after Siddiqui's entry on the stage disrupted his speech. The state goes to the polls in 8 phases from March 27-April 29 followed by the counting of votes on May 2.

Read: 'Congress Losing Ground In Poll-bound States; ISF Alliance Out Of Desperation': Kavinder