Comments by West Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim spark controversy, BJP demands action

A controversy has erupted in West Bengal over the comments made by Kolkata Municipal Mayor and State Minister Firhad Hakim in which he said that those not born in Islam are unlucky.

“Those who are not born in Islam are unfortunate. We have to introduce them to Islam. Allah will be pleased if we do that,” Mr. Hakim said on July 3 during an event of the All India Quran Competition held on July 3.

“I have a request to this foundation. And that is… when we conduct such a ceremony, Islam, especially among the people of Islam, should be spread among non-Muslims,” ​​the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader says in the video.

The comments of an important minister in Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet triggered reactions in political circles. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in particular demanded action against the minister.

“It should your drive “Legal action is pending against him (Firhad Hakim). His comments have shaken the very foundations of the Constitution. The remarks will embolden the fundamentalist forces and the modules hidden in the state. In any other state, he would have been arrested,” BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Shamik Bhattacharya said at a press conference on Sunday.

Mr Bhattacharya said that in the past, Mr Hakim had referred to an area in Calcutta as “mini Pakistan”.

The controversy shows no signs of dying down, even though Mr Hakim clarified that there was nothing controversial in the remarks. “People of West Bengal know that I am a secular person. I believe in my religion and respect other religions. I organise Durga Puja and Kali Puja,” he said.

BJP leader and state education minister Sukanta Majumdar termed the comments “highly reprehensible”. “The assertion that those who are not born Muslims are born with misfortune and that converting to Islam is the way to please Allah is deeply offensive and divisive. Such comments undermine the principles of religious freedom and equality,” Mr Majumdar said.

The minister’s remarks came at a private event in a government auditorium and came against the backdrop of similar comments by Trinamool MP Hamidur Rahaman, who justified the public flogging of a woman in Chopra, saying that “such things (sham courts) happen in Muslim castes”. The developments are significant as politics in West Bengal has come to hinge on religious polarisation.