Mamata Banerjee visits Furfura Sharif, slams Opposition for questioning her intent ahead of 2026 polls

Speaking at the religious site, Mamata said, "No one questions me when I visit Kashi Viswanath, Pushkar, Christian night supper, celebrate Durga Puja, Kali Puja. I attend all religious events, be it Dol Purnima (Holi celebrations) or Eid or Christmas. I believe Bengal is the place where there is religious harmony."

The Chief Minister, who was welcomed by Pirzada Taha Siddiqui and other clerics, promised a polytechnic college and a bus stand near Furfura Sharif where she reached at around 5 pm.

Mamata, who is at the receiving end of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s "appeasement" allegations, visited the shrine only third time since coming to power in 2011.

Prior to her visit, the opposition parties accused Mamata Banerjee of appeasing the Muslims, who are assumed to be rooting for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the past several elections.

Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari said the Chief Minister remembers Furfura Sharif only during elections and she rushed to the shrine considering her shaky ground.

Indian Secular Front (ISF) MLA Naushad Siddiqui, who met the Chief Minister at her office last week, also called the visit "political".

Mamata Banerjee visited Furfura Sharif amid the BJP's relentless effort in painting the Chief Minister as "anti-Hindu" both inside and outside the assembly.

Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari had a fierce faceoff in the Budget session of the legislative assembly when the LoP accused the Chief Minister of appeasing the Muslims.

The BJP attacked the Mamata Banerjee government claiming Hindu festival Saraswati Puja was not allowed in the state in reference to sporadic incidents in a few colleges.

The saffron party attacked the TMC government even on the very recent incident of the clash which broke out between two groups over Holi celebrations in several parts of Birbhum.

The government's diktat, which later was claimed to be a request, to not play Holi at popular marketplace Sonajhuri Haat in Shantiniketan also drew massive ire from the BJP, which is aiming to assume power for the first time in the state.

Mamata's visit also took place in the backdrop of Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM's entry into West Bengal politics.

Last week, the AIMIM claimed Muslims now form over 40 percent of the total population in the state and therefore the party will field candidates in all 294 seats.

"We are here to make a big announcement. We fought in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi. In Bengal, we will fight from all seats. In the last panchayat elections, the AIMIM received 60,000 votes in Malda, 25,000 in Murshidabad, and from 15,000 to 18,000 in other areas," AIMIM spokesperson Imran Solanki said as quoted by The Indian Express.

"They (TMC) come to power using Muslim votes, but they don’t do anything for us. We believe that it is because of the 90 percent Muslim vote that the TMC is able to form the government here," the AIMIM spokesperson said as reported by the daily.

The TMC has been in power in the eastern state of India for three uninterrupted terms since 2021.

In the last elections, where AIMIM had failed to make any tangible impact, the TMC swept the elections with over 200 seats thwarting an aggressive BJP.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC maintained its dominance in the state's political landscape winning 29 seats as opposed to BJP's 12.