Mamata Banerjee's SIGNIFICANT Move, Takes Charge Of Minority Department Replacing Md. Ghulam Rabbani

Following the Trinamool Congress's defeat in the by-election for the Sagardighi Assembly seat, the governing party decided to assess whether or not its minority support had decreased.

On Monday, Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of Bengal, took over the minority affairs and madrasa education departments from Md. Ghulam Rabbani, a cabinet member. In a state where minorities make up a third of the voters, the department is seen as essential. Following the Trinamool Congress's loss in the byelection for the Sagardighi Assembly seat, the governing party decided to assess whether or not its minority support had decreased.

Tajmul Hossain, a minister of state who is presently in charge of the MSME and textiles departments, was also given additional responsibilities as the junior minister of minority affairs and madarsa education by Mamata. By 22,986 votes, Left-backed Congress nominee Bairon Biswas defeated Trinamool's Debasish Banerjee in the byelection. According to sources, Mamata has made the decision to step up vigilance and make necessary changes in order to leave nothing to chance, even though Trinamool's internal assessment indicated that the defeat was a one-off case of upset and the party's minority support base was intact.

"She adheres to the tenet that self-reliance is the best guarantee of quality work. She didn't want to take any chances because the panchayat elections were right around the corner", according to a source in her party. "She ran the division herself for ten years (since coming to power in 2011). She handed over the duty to Rabbani for the third tenure (starting in 2021). She says his work hasn't been good enough. She's assuming charge once more", he continued.

Within ten days of the political reorganization, the Trinamool supremo named Itahar MLA Mosaraf Hossain to lead the party's minority cell in place of the long-serving Haji Nurul Islam. She appointed Rabbani to the committee to look into the state of minority support in the aftermath of Sagardighi exactly three weeks prior, on March 6. She received a report from the five-person group of Muslim ministers, headed by Siddiqullah Chowdhury, a few weeks ago.

"The report, which she agreed with, didn't really mention anything ground-breaking and mainly discussed well-known issues like factional disputes, annoyance over some errors in the welfare programme's benefit distribution, the opposition's cosy relationship with us, and general hostility towards the Sagardighi candidate", according to a minister.