KOLKATA: Bengal BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu on Sunday alleged that “people call Firhad Hakim an ISI agent,” prompting his party, facing strong criticism, to distance itself from what it called Basu’s “personal” remarks, and Trinamool and other party leaders to condemn it as a “new low in politics”.
Hakim, a state cabinet minister, coordinator of KMC’s ward 82 who heads the corporation’s board, and an MLA from Kolkata (Port), responded that not more than 60 voters out of the 45,000 who had elected him to the KMC were from the minority community, and that people had voted for him without looking at his religion.
Basu, speaking to the press in Salt Lake on Sunday, said Hakim must decide which party he wanted to remain in — the Trinamool, or any other political outfit. “Bobby Hakim is not a Bengali. People in his area call him an agent of ISI,” Basu said. “Does he think that people have forgotten his Mini Pakistan statement that came out in a Pakistani newspaper? Moreover, he is not a Bengali himself. How can he brand the BJP as a party of non-Bengali-speaking people?”
Hakim, in his response, condemned Basu’s “politics of communalism”. “Just because my name is Firhad Hakim, can they put such labels on me? I don’t feel an urge to engage in such politics of communalism,” he said, adding, “Unlike them, we do not need to divide people on the lines of religion. People love us for the work we do. The (KMC) ward, which elected me with a record margin, has around 60 minority voters. Had he (Sayantan) understood this, he would have won at least one election. I seek votes for my work. I am religious at heart but believe in secularism. My country and its people always come first.”
Trinamool general-secretary Kunal Ghosh was more cutting in his remark: “First BJP lost the polls; now, they have lost their mind. Agents are not based on their names or surnames. This is a new low in politics.”
Antu Dhar, a close aide of Hakim’s, said the BJP ad its leaders should “first learn about the Hakim family” before speaking. The Hakims are long-time residents of Chetla. Firhad’s mother, Monika Mukherjee, a Fern Road resident and headmistress of a government-aided school, married Abdul Hakim, a lawyer. Monika had played a key role in educating girls, especially those from the minority community. Two of Firhad’s sisters — Shyama and Jeeti — have married Hindus. His wife, Ismat, participates in every activity at the Chetla Agrani Durga Puja.
“This is a new low in politics,” former Congress MP Pradip Bhattacharya said, adding, “It is in very bad taste. One may have a political rivalry with another person, but cannot stoop so low. What proof does he (Basu) have to this claim? This never happened in Bengal’s politics before.” Former Left legislative party leader Sujan Chakraborty said: “What Basu said is unacceptable. I don’t believe the allegation. Even if there is any truth, why haven’t they initiated any investigation against him?”
The BJP, too, distanced itself from Basu’s comments, with the party’s Bengal spokesperson, Shamik Bhattacharya, saying he had made those in his “personal” capacity, but adding, “ He was perhaps trying to articulate a public perception.” Basu himself defended his comments, saying, “I had merely said what people think (of him).” Bhattacharya alleged it wasn’t the BJP, but the TMC, which was fanning hatred along religious lines. “This had led to such public perceptions,” Bhattacharya said.
