Mamata to visit Furfura Sharif today, attend meet & Iftar party
Times of India | 17 March 2025
Furfura Sharif (Hooghly): CM Mamata Banerjee will go to Furfura Sharif on Monday to attend administrative meetings followed by an Iftar party in the presence of over 70 Pir Sahibs and Pirzadas.
Banerjee, who will be visiting after nearly nine years, has been to Furfura Sharif twice since she became CM. Her upcoming visit, a year before the polls, has drawn the attention of political circles. It comes in the backdrop of intense criticism sparked by state leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari's threat to physically throw Muslim MLAs out of the assembly.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 assembly elections, CPM and Congress had allied with ISF, whose chairman Nawsad Siddique is a Furfura Sharif Pirzada.
Trinamool Congress, however, dismissed any connection between Banerjee's visit and the recent storm over Adhikari's remarks. "This was scheduled long back, there is no way it can be linked to anything. Moreover, we have not given much importance to Adhikari's statement," former Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh said.
Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee said: "This is a social visit. The CM cleared several projects earlier. People are looking at the administrative meeting with hope and expectations."
To claims that Banerjee was working to secure votes from the minority community, Ghosh said: "When the CM goes to Digha Jagannath Mandir, it is said (by the opposition) that she is working for Hindus. When she goes to churches during Christmas, she is said to be reaching out to Christians. When she is invited by Furfura Sharif and goes there, she is said to be reaching out to Muslims. Do these statements mean anything? Mamata Banerjee is a Hindu brahmin, but she worships the Constitution of India and its ethos."
A week ago, Siddique went to Nabanna to meet Banerjee to discuss his problems with expenditure from the MLA fund. Recently, Furfura Sharif Pirzada Toha Siddiqui criticised TMC MLA and transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty, saying he had not spent money on Furfura Sharif in 14 years.
Siddique, who is invited to the administrative meeting and the Iftar party, said he was unable to confirm whether he would attend. "It is good that all Pir Sahibs are invited this time. Earlier, it was always a select group of clerics who were given a chance to meet the CM. I am not sure if I will be there, but Pir Sahibs will be present," the Bhangar MLA said.
On Sunday, Toha Siddiqui said: "Furfura Sharif saw utter negligence during the Left Front tenure. But things started to change after 2011. The CM was scheduled to visit a few days ago. However, it got delayed. We will present our demands before her."
Furfura Sharif holds strong influence over Muslims in Bengal, particularly those from Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas. Historically, all political parties in the state maintain cordial relations with the Sharif huzurs there. In the past, former President Pranab Mukherjee, interlocutors of Congress netas like Abdul Mannan and Pradip Bhattacharya, and Mukul Roy as well as Left seniors like Manab Mukherjee, Mohammad Salim and Gautam Deb regularly courted the huzurs.