Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced an increase in the honorarium of imams and muezzins in Bengal by Rs 500 a month before explaining that she couldn't hike the amounts further to match their expectations because of the Centre's refusal to clear the dues of Rs 1.15 lakh crore.

Henceforward, the imams and muezzins will get Rs 3,000 and Rs 1,500 a month, respectively.

“The imams help us in implementing government schemes. Be it the pulse polio drive or Somobyathi, the imams help us implement the schemes and programmes.... The honorarium for imams and muezzins had started in 2012. I announce our decision to increase the honorarium by Rs 500 a month," said the chief minister during a programme attended by the imams and the muezzins from across Bengal.

The programme held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Calcutta assumed significance as many in the state administration felt that the chief minister wanted to keep her minority vote bank intact ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls amid questions on whether the ruling party was losing the support of a section of Muslims.

The chief minister also announced that the honorarium for nearly 4,000 Hindu priests would be increased to Rs 1,500 from Rs 1,000 a month.

The honorarium is distributed to imams and muezzins by the Waqf Board after the funds are given by the government. More than 45,000 imams and muezzins get the honorarium these days.

Initially, the government used to give the honorarium to the imams and muezzins directly from the state exchequer. But later on, Calcutta High Court had struck down the decision of the government. The state then decided to give the honorarium through the Waqf board. The funds are transferred to the board which disburses the amounts to the imams and muezzins.

The BJP has always criticised the scheme, saying it is the Trinamul Congress’s tool for minority appeasement.

Trinamul sought to refute the allegation, saying giving the honorarium to the imams helped the state as they extended cooperation to implement development projects in the Muslim-dominated areas.

“In the past, several projects, including pulse polio immunisation, had hit roadblocks. But during our time, the programme runs smoothly because of the active participation of the imams,” said a Bengal minister.

During the programme, Mamata tried to explain why she could not meet the imams' expectation of an honorarium of at least Rs 5,000 a month.

“The Centre did not clear dues of Rs 1.15 lakh crore. The BJP-led Centre is trying to strangulate the state financially. But I would say that in another six months, we will oust the BJP-led government and then I can look into all these issues,” said the chief minister.

Mamata also pointed out that her government was spending heavily on minority development despite the Centre not releasing funds under several schemes.

“The Centre has almost stopped the minority and OBC scholarships. But our government is carrying on with these schemes on its own. We gave scholarships to 3.63 crore minority students in the past 12 years,” said the chief minister.

Mamata said her government had given the approval for the recruitment of 6,152 teachers and 433 non-teaching staff to 614 state-aided madrasas. The state also wishes to bring students of more than 700 khariji madrasas under government schemes like Kanyashree, Sabooj Sathi and free tab distribution programme.

“For this, these madrasas will be given recognition by the government. The state will not interfere in fixing the curriculum of the madrasas, but the students will get the benefit of government schemes,” the chief minister said.

Sources said Mamata had attended the meeting of the imams and muezzins knowing that the financial condition of the state would not allow her to increase the honorarium of the imams according to their wish.

“But she attended the meeting to send a message to the imams, who are considered to be opinion makers among the minority voters in rural areas. She made it clear why her government could not meet their demand at this moment. She wanted to be clear on her part,” said a source.

The chief minister, however, announced that if any of the imams or muezzins wanted to start their business, the government would help them by securing a soft loan of Rs 5 lakh under the Bhabishyat Credit Card.

Some of the imams present at the meeting said a hike of Rs 500 in the monthly grant was not going to help them by any means. “Our demand was to increase the honorarium to Rs 5,000 a month…. Even that amount would be meagre because of the spiralling prices of essential commodities,” said one of them.