Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | 'Doing nothing for upliftment of state's Muslims': Owaisi slams Mamata & TMC

Kolkata: After the Trinamool Congress (TMC) accused him and his party of helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the West Bengal assembly elections, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi hit back on Wednesday, accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party and government of doing nothing for the socio-economic uplift of the state’s Muslims.

“The Muslims constitute nearly 30 per cent of the population in West Bengal. But they account for only 7 per cent of the state government employees. This is shocking,” Owaisi told journalists a day after he arrived in Kolkata to meet Humayun Kabir.

Kabir is a member of the outgoing state assembly of West Bengal, who floated Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) after being suspended from the Trinamool Congress for his pledge to rebuild a replica of the Babri Masjid in West Bengal. “How many Muslim children are outside the schools in West Bengal? How many Muslim boys and girls drop out of the academic institutions?”

Owaisi and Kabir had earlier announced that the AIMIM and the AJUP would have an alliance for the assembly elections in the state. They had a joint news conference in Kolkata on Wednesday, when they announced that they would address 20 election rallies across the state, beginning with one in Baharampur on April 1.

Kabir already said that his party would contest in 154 of the 294 constituencies in the state. Though Owaisi did not make public how many seats his party would contest for, the AIMIM and Kabir’s AJUP might field candidates in a total of 182 constituencies.

The TMC alleged that the AIMIM and the AJUP had come together in West Bengal, at the behest of the BJP, only to help the saffron party split the support base of Mamata Banerjee’s party, particularly in the constituencies with substantial populations of Muslims.

The party had alleged that both the BJP and the AJUP-AIMIM alliance had been pursuing divisive politics to reap political dividends by polarising the electorate.

Owaisi countered the TMC’s allegation by pointing out that the BJP had won three assembly seats in West Bengal in 2016, but as many as 77 in 2021.

“Did I make them win? Am I so powerful that I made the BJP grow? The BJP's growth is happening in front of your eyes,” he said, accusing the TMC of allowing the saffron party to grow in the state. The AIMIM chief had also reminded that the TMC had once been a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP.

The AIMIM had earlier been accused of hurting the electoral prospects of the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and ensuring an advantage for the NDA in Bihar, both in the 2020 and the 2025 assembly elections in the neighbouring state.

He alleged that the TMC had used the Muslims of West Bengal as a vote bank but never made attempts for the socio-economic uplift of the community.

“Joining the prayers on the day of Eid does not help fill my stomach or light a lamp in my house. Does it ensure a good future for our children?” said Owaisi. He apparently took a subtle dig at Mamata, who had recently turned up at the Red Road in Kolkata on the occasion of Eid and offered prayers.  

The AIMIM leader also said that Muslims of West Bengal required a strong political leader from the community to speed up the process of socio-economic development for themselves.