‘Muslims will become majority’: Trinamool condemns, distances itself from Minister Firhad Hakim’s remark

Delinking itself from Firhad Hakim, a prominent minority face of West Bengal’s ruling party, the TMC said ‘any remarks that threaten the social fabric of West Bengal will be met with strict measures’

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday (December 16, 2024) dissociated itself from senior party leader and Minister Firhad Hakim’s remarks, in which he said that Muslims would soon become the majority.

“The All India Trinamool Congress firmly disassociates itself from and strongly condemns the statement made by Shri Firhad Hakim, MIC GoWB [Minister In Charge, Government of West Bengal], at an event day before yesterday. These comments do not reflect the party’s position or ideology,” the TMC said in an official statement posted on social media via its official handles.

The development assumes significance as this is a rare occasion on which the party has officially distanced itself from remarks made by a senior party leader.

Mr. Hakim is one of most prominent minority faces in the Trinamool Congress. He holds key portfolios in the Cabinet led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and is also the Mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

In the statement, West Bengal’s ruling party not only dissociated itself from the Minister’s remark, it added that “any remarks that threaten the social fabric of West Bengal will be met with strict measures” and, “Our commitment to peace, unity, and communal harmony remains unwavering.”

Mr. Hakim, the Minister for Municipal Affairs and Urban Development, purportedly made the controversial remark while addressing students of the minority community at an event on Friday. “We come from such a community that in West Bengal we are 33%, and across the country, we are only 17%, and we are called a minority community in India. But we do consider ourselves as a minority. But in the coming days, we will no longer remain a minority. We believe that if Allah has grace on us and education is with us then we will become the majority,” he is heard saying in a video of the address.

While the Minister tried to contain the damage by saying he is a secular person and will remain so till death, Opposition parties, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the remarks had been made to incite a “communal divide”.

Mr. Hakim’s remarks also come as an embarrassment to the ruling party at a time when several Hindutva-oriented groups, including the BJP, have hit the streets in Kolkata to highlight attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.

This is not the first time that the senior Trinamool leader has courted controversy. In July this year, Mr. Hakim had to express regret when he was heard saying that those not born into Islam were unfortunate. “They are unfortunate who are not born in Islam. We have to bring them under the fold of Islam. Allah will be happy if we do so,” Mr. Hakim had said on July 3 during an ‘All India Quran Competition’.

Published - December 16, 2024 06:51 pm IST