The Mayor of Kolkata Firhad Hakim stirred a massive controversy after he openly called people to convert to Islam and said non-Muslims are unfortunate and need to bring Iman in them to make Allah happy.
Hakim, TMC leader and a close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, made the contentious remarks during the ‘All India Quran Competition’. The event took place on July 3 at Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata.
Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, the Urban Development & Municipal Affairs in the state Cabinet, said recently that those who are not born into Islam are unfortunate and should be given ‘dawat’ (invitation) to convert to give ‘iman’ (faith, recognition) and please Allah.
“Those who are not born in Islam are unfortunate! They are born with misfortune. We have to bring them under the fold of Islam,” the Kolkata Mayor said during the event.
“We need to spread Islam among non-Muslims. If we can bring someone on the path of Islam, then, we will prove to be true Muslims,” Hakim added.
Notably, this is not the first time when the Mayor of Kolkata has grabbed the headlines for the wrong reasons. In April 2016, he had called a Muslim-dominated area of Kolkata as “Mini-Pakistan”.
BJP slams the ‘Appeasement Politics’ of Trinamool Congress
BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya said the Mayor’s statement is an open acknowledgment of TMC’s ‘underlying agenda’.
“The TMC’s penchant for extreme appeasement politics in West Bengal is an open secret. The party’s relentless appeasement politics has paid off, as evident from the successive electoral victories and subsequent post poll violence, which have emboldened the TMC, making it more audacious and haughty than ever.
The brazen act of publicly flogging a woman by TMC’s JCB in a manner akin to Sharia Court punishment and the reprehensible defense by TMC’s Chopra MLA, Hamidur Rahman, asserting such actions are typical in a ‘Muslim Rashtra,’ have already incited a political maelstrom and bears the testament to the TMC’s ‘underlying agenda’,” Malviya wrote on X along with a video clip of Hakim’s controversial speech.
“Now, TMC heavyweight and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim openly acknowledged this ‘underlying agenda’, by brazenly advocating the conversion of ‘ill-fated non-Muslims’ to Islam to ostensibly please ‘Allah’. These flagrant incidents portend an ominous future, where the TMC’s policy of appeasement will intensify, heralding a day not far off when West Bengal is wholly converted into a ‘Muslim Rashtra’ under ‘Didi’s Anuprerona (Mamata’s inspiration)’,” Malviya added.
BJP has once again fired arrows of Muslim appeasement and has questioned Mamata Banerjee’s silence, from bulldozer action to the issue of reservation, Mamata government has been continuously accused of Muslim appeasement. But now a person sitting on a constitutional post is openly advocating conversion, CM Mamata Banerjee, who took out a rally of Sarvadharma Sambhaav in protest against the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha program, is also under the scanner.
Firhad Hakim dares BJP to contest against him in Hindu Area
Mayor Firhad Hakim, who is in the eye of a storm for his comment on non-Muslims’ conversion to Islam, has countered BJP’s charge against him and TMC by challenging the saffron party to contest against him in a Hindu area.
The Kolkata Mayor, who also a senior minister in Mamata Banerjee’s Cabinet, said he is not bothered by BJP’s interpretation of his comments.
“This is how BJP speaks… I don’t need to react to that,” Firhad told ANI, adding that there was nothing controversial about what he had said.
“Everyone in Bengal knows I am a truly secular person… I am a Hindustani and respect all religions. I am telling them to come and contest against me in a Hindu area. If they can beat me, I will leave politics,” Firhad said, adding fuel to the fire.
