Mahua Moitra alleges discrimination against Muslim bureaucrats

Kolkata

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has written to the National Commission of Minorities alleging discrimination against Muslim IAS and IPS officers in West Bengal. The senior Lok Sabha MP has also stated that Muslim bureaucrats are kept out of events involving Union Home Minister Amit Shah and that the discrimination is based on religion.

“On three separate dates, across two official visits and in two cities, three senior officers were asked to leave, or told not to attend, events at which their presence was integral to the business being transacted, while their counterparts of other faiths took part as usual. The one factor these three officers share, and the one factor that sets them apart from the colleagues who were permitted to remain, is their religion,” Ms. Moitra’s letter sent on Thursday (September 17, 2026) stated.

In the letter, she has also attached evidence she has collected of the alleged discrimination and has made multiple social media posts about the issue.

In her letter, Ms. Moitra has highlighted at least seven instances in two months during Mr. Shah’s visits to West Bengal where Muslim IAS and IPS officers were removed from meetings where, she said, they should have been present based on their duties and designations.

“When the senior-most Muslim officers of the State – officers who have risen through a merit-based national civil service and who command thousands of personnel – are kept out of the room in which security is discussed with the Union Home Minister, the message received down the chain of command is unmistakable: that a person’s religion is a legitimate proxy for suspicion,” Ms. Moitra’s letter also added.

She has asked NCM chairman Harjit Singh Grewal to take immediate action into the matter and help stop such discrimination in the future.

On September 1, 2026, Ms. Moitra first posted about the issue on her social media platforms. She had also tagged the IAS and IPS associations and asked why they were not protesting discrimination against their colleagues.

In this first post, she had named three officers and alleged various forms of exclusion and discrimination against them. “CP Siliguri Waquar Raza banned from welcome lineup, Jawed Shamim DG STF not invited anywhere, Khalil Ahmed IAS made to leave,” Ms. Moitra’s post had said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Moitra also stated on Thursday that the West Bengal police of Bishnupur police station had filed a complaint against her over her first social media post on the issue and that she had been asked to appear before the police on Friday.

IPS transfer

In a recent incident, IPS officer Bushra Bano was transferred from her position in West Bengal after right-wing groups objected to her saying ‘Assalamu Alaikum,’ ‘Inshallah’, and ‘Jazakallah’. Ms. Bano, who was posted as Additional SP of Kharagpur in Paschim Medinipur district, was transferred to the post of Deputy Commandant, SAP 4th Battalion on September 14.

The transfer has been criticised by multiple politicians, including former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi and others.

Ms. Moitra has also said that when she appears before the police for her interrogation based on the FIR, she will also ask them questions about why Ms. Bano was transferred.