Whether the Shahi Imam's endorsement of Mamata Banerjee actually helps her or not, it proves that the Congress is losing its grip over Muslim votes. Even parties which claim not to look at religion or caste are wooing Muslim voters.

It seems some old fashioned etiquette is serving Mamata Banerjee well. First, Anna Hazare announced his support for her because she was the only leader to have responded to his letter to all the main political parties. Now it’s the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmad Bukhari.

The Shahi Imam had also written to all non-BJP ministers asking about the implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar commission on minorities. Only Mamata replied.

“After going through the details of the developmental work that she has done for the development of minorities and Muslims in the state, I personally feel India needs a secular leader like her who believes in work and not lip service,” Bukhari said.

In a recent interview Mamata had already slammed both the Congress and the BJP without naming either. “We do we want dynastic rule, nor do we want a government of rioters at the Centre. We want a people's government,” she said.

While Narendra Modi chose to take no pot shots at Mamata at his big rally in Kolkata recently, other BJP leaders, especially Muslim ones had no qualms about taking on her brand of 'secularism'.

The BJP Minority Morcha state president Shakil Ansari told the rally that Mamata might boast about creating thousands of madrasahs, but do the children of Trinamool leaders like Sultan Ahmed, Firhad Hakim and Javed Khan go there? “They will do to Auxilium or Don Bosco,” scoffed Ansari. “They will be in the IPS. In madrasah they will become imams. And Didi will give them 2500 rupees a month.”

In 2012, Mamata had announced a Rs 2500 monthly stipend for imams and Rs 1500 for muezzins. 30,000 imams and 15,000 muezzins had benefited from that largesse. In 2013, the Calcutta High Court scrapped that in response to PILs filed by various groups including the state unit of the BJP. In 2011, Muslim votes swung away from the Left to Trinamool and Mamata is determined to hold onto that.

Ansari posited the BJP as the party that could offer Muslims modern education and access to real jobs. He has often stressed that despite Mamata’s overtures, less than 1% of government employees in the state are Muslim. “The BJP has not even ruled Bengal for an hour. Why are there so many Muslims in its jails?” he asked. Instead his claim was that Muslims were better off in BJP-ruled states such as Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Modi himself made that comparison in Kolkata even though he put the blame for the plight of Muslims in Bengal on 34 years of CPM rule.

The Haj quota of Gujarat is 4800 - it has become fashionable to abuse Gujarat in the name of communal harmony - let me ask the defenders of secularism - see we receive Haj requests of around 37000 annually - my question is if there was no money, no development, no work or wage in Gujarat how come such a large number aspires to Haj each year? West Bengal - where is Bengal? Ask these defenders of secularism - why does the state receive only around 12000 applications for Haj against a quota of 11600?



But the BJP is also clear that it will go after Muslim votes this election. Ansari said in West Bengal, BJP cadres would visit every Muslim household in the state.

Whether that makes a real difference or not, the BJP reasons that whatever inroads it can make are well worth it. In a way the Shahi Imam’s statement also puts the Congress on notice that it is not the default repository of Muslim votes. This is not news for the party. Although five of the Congress’ eight MLAs in Delhi are Muslim, compared with the 2008 Assembly elections Congress lost 70% of Muslim support there according to the Economic Times. ET had reported Muslim anger against Congress had been simmering because of what was perceived as a false case against journalist Syed Mohammad Ahmed Kazmi in the Israeli Embassy car bombing plot as well over Congress leaders and wakf property land grabs. One of those wakf properties fell in Sheila Dikshit’s constituency. The other in Yoganand Shastri’s. Both lost.

Two days before that Delhi election, Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad Naqvi held a press conference in Delhi asking Muslims not to vote for Congress or BJP but a third party, an appeal that was covered mostly in the Urdu press.

Now those third parties are taking note.

The Aam Aadmi Party is courting Muslim votes with Arvind Kejriwal showing up at an interaction with Muslim academics and intelligentsia at the India Islamic Centre this week at the invitation of its president Sirajuddin Qureshi. He was taken to task because while he promised the party would field as many Muslim candidates as possible in the poll, the party’s first list did not reflect that. The problem is that while AAP maintains it does not look at caste and religion when distributing party tickets, it cannot afford to ignore that either.

But Kerjriwal’s real overture had nothing to do with poll promises. The poster-boy of the anti-corruption movement dubbed communalism a bigger issue than corruption

“Communalism is a bigger problem in front of the country than corruption and it is never about people fighting each other. It is political parties who pit communities against one another for narrow electoral gains. But the truth is, neither has BJP ever done anything for Hindus nor Congress for Muslims,” Kejriwal told the audience.

After the Delhi Assembly rout, Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasmi had said,“This so-called secular government thinks where will Muslims go? We have been saying that we are not scared of Narendra Modi and they cannot use the Modi fear to scare us into voting for them again. What has happened in Delhi is a trailer. We will carry on our campaign till the Lok Sabha.”

Clearly the other parties whether it’s Trinamool, AAP or even the BJP are hoping to reap the dividends of that discontent.