Zaidul Haque : Kolkata: Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee declared at a conference of Imams here on 3rd April that, West Bengal Government will give honorarium or allowance (a monthly sum of Rs2500) to 30000 Imams of mosques throughout the state. The CM then set up a task force for this purpose in the leadership of Chairman of Wakf Board Abdul Ghani. Members of the task force are eminent Imams and clerics including Maulana Qasim Alwi (Imam Lal Mosque), Maulana Noorur Rehman Barkati (Shahi Imam Tipu Sultan Mosque), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Toha Siddiquee (Pir of Furfura Sharif), Maulana Athar Abbas Rizvi (religious leader of Shia community)and Maulana Shafique Qasmi (Imama of Nakhoda Mosque). Going ahead, the government on 17th April also published official notice along with application form in several dailies. The form has also been put on the State Waqf Board’s website for download.
However, it seems that the clerics and common Muslims have not accepted the announcement about honorarium wholeheartedly.

They are divided over the real motive of the government behind the honorarium as well.

                                                                      Mamata Banerjee with Barkati,Sultan Ahmed , Partha Chatterjee and  Firhad Hakim

Honorarium may lead to government control of mosques
Jamiat Ulama-I-HindMaulana Siddiqullah Chowdhury, leader of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, the largest Muslim organization in West Bengal, has opposed any government allowances to Imams. Siddiqullah Chowdhury told TCN: “It is a political gameplan before the Panchayat elections due in 2013. He alleged that by announcing honorarium to Imams, the government of Mamata Banerjee is trying to divert attention from Muslim reservation.In the election manifesto of Trinamool Congress, Muslim reservation was one of the main agenda for development of the minority community.”
Chowdhury demanded Muslim reservation instead of allowances. “If Muslims get government job according to their population in West Bengal, they will pay their Imams from their own pocket, they will not need government’s fund for it,”Chowdhury said.

Jamaat-e-Islami HindState Jamaat-e-Islami Hind President Md Nuruddin has similar views. He told TCN: Allowance for Imams is not justified in a secular country. If any government pays allowances to Imams of mosque, the Hindu priests will also demand it. So, any government could not move for religious persons. However, Jamaatis discussing if the allowance to Imams is justified or not. But he apprehends that community may lose control on mosques in future as management bodies of mosques may go in government’s hand.