Indian Secular Front (ISF) leader Nawshad Siddique. File | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Indian Secular Front (ISF) leader Nawshad Siddique on Wednesday (Jan 21, 2026) said it was imperative to form an alliance with the Congress and the Left Front as soon as possible to defeat the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming general elections.
Mr. Siddique, who is the sole MLA of the ISF, held a public meeting in Kolkata and said that such an alliance should be formed within a month.
“To defeat the Trinamool Congress and the BJP and ensure that they can be defeated easily, we have to form an alliance with the Left parties and the Congress within a month,” the ISF leader told reporters.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) led by the Left Front, Congress and the ISF formed an alliance with the ISF for the 2021 parliamentary elections, but the alliance did not lead to much electoral success. Nawsad Siddique was the only MLA to be elected from Bhangar in the 2021 parliamentary elections.
The ISF rally on Wednesday (January 21, 2026) comes as a show of strength as suspended Trinamool Congress MlA from Murshidabad Humayun Kabir announced the formation of a political party to take on the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.
ISF MLA Nawsad Siddique’s remarks assume importance as the Muslim support base is crucial for the Trinamool Congress in the upcoming assembly elections. Political parties like the ISF and Mr. Kabir’s Jan Unnayan Party (JUP) are trying to eat away at the minority support base of the Trinamool Congress. Muslims constitute 27.01% of the state’s population and have supported the Trinamool Congress since 2011. The Trinamool Congress fears that the ISF and JUP may eat into the party’s minority vote bank.
Published – 22 Jan 2026 08:53 IST
