Amid Murshidabad violence CM Mamata Banerjee to meet Muslim leaders today on opposing Waqf Act

Kolkata, April 16 (IANS) Amid the violence in the minority-dominated Murshidabad district of West Bengal since last week during protests against the newly-promulgated Waqf (Amendment) Act, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will on Wednesday hold a meeting with the imams, muezzins, and religious leaders from the Muslim community in the state.

The meeting has been called to prepare the blueprint on how to oppose the Act.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at a time when the deployment and route marches by Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel are continuing in the troubled pockets in the district, namely Samserganj, Suti, Dhulian, and Jangipur, to restore normalcy and confidence among the people there.

The venue of the meeting will be the Netaji Indoor Stadium in central Kolkata.

Firhad Hakim, the West Bengal Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister and the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, will also be present at the meeting.

Political observers feel that the scheduled meeting with the imams, muezzins, and religious leaders will be quite interesting in the sense that all eyes and ears will be on whether the Chief Minister in her message would just outline the blueprint on how to oppose Waqf Act or whether she will also give a message on how to prevent such violence and riot-like situations during protests.

Earlier this month, the Chief Minister described the Waqf Act as an "attempt to snatch others' property".

She also said while addressing a programme of the Jain community in Kolkata earlier this month that she would always be there to protect the people from the minority community and their properties.

Last week, the Chief Minister also issued a statement assuring that the Waqf (Amendment) Act will not be implemented in West Bengal. The state leadership of the BJP has questioned how the Chief Minister of a state could claim that she would not allow the implementation of a Central Act in the state concerned.

Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia district, Mahua Moitra, has filed a petition at the Supreme Court challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act. In such a situation, the focus will be on the Chief Minister's speech in the meeting with imams, muezzins, and religious leaders from the Muslim community on Wednesday.

--IANS

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