Bengal Engulfed In Communal Flames

The question is why are we seeing West Bengal being made into a new Kashmir? What is the dangerous politics behind it and the regime of Mamata Banerjee out there which as we all saw tolerates neither dissent nor opposition, not even a cartoon that mocks in a humorist manner, sketched by a professor from Jadavpur University.

There has been a host of incidents in the past like Dhulagarh riots, Chandernagar, Khagar, Burdwan and not to forget Kalichak which shows that there is planned systematic official machinery behind it that is targeting only one community, the Hindus. The local Bengal media is mysteriously silent over all this and the danger is that if Bengal collapses the remote areas of the North East will get virtually unapproachable by road. The scenario may be so alarming that the scales may tilt in China’s favor to start a war against India for which they are so itching.

Bashirhat Riots

Let’s take head-on the most recent incident in Bashirhat where a mob of around 200 people, most of whom were outsiders, tried to torch the home of a teenage boy Souvik Sarkar, whereupon the locals came to his rescue. This resulted from the news of a social media meme concerning Islam’s holiest place and the prophet by Souvik which led to the mobilization of a big crowd by some local clerics and leaders, who demanded instant action against the boy on charges of “Islam Khatre Mein” and blasphemy.

Such morphed images have been displayed on social media previously also, which acted as bait for provoking the Muslims, leading to clashes. The initial rage over the Islamophobic post, which triggered off widespread protests, was mainly peaceful, with the primary demand being limited to quick action against the teenage boy. However, following the alleged hitting of a protester by an arrow in Shaista Nagar, the protesters turned violent. Some reports mention that many in the mob asked for the boy to be handed over to them allegedly for stoning him to death.

The protest was dispersed by the police. Subsequently, the locals claim “outsiders” who spoke in Hindi came and torched the police vehicles. To add to the chaos, a viral rumor about a mosque being attacked was spread and that there was desecration of some kind. This sparked the riots which were headed by a group of the ultra-orthodox Bengali Muslims, even as various other Muslims tried unsuccessfully to control the mob anger. Maybe all this was meticulously planned to target the Hindus under such a plea.

So, the combination of a false news story and a morphed photograph, propagated by social media instigated the ultra-orthodox segment of the Bengali Muslims which resulted in the civil unrest. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reacted to the turmoil by announcing the creation of “shanty vahinis” at every Bengal booth where locals comprising the youth, religious leaders and social activists would oversee that there is no communal disharmony due to hate speech, false news and inflammatory social media propaganda.

Basirhat is near the Bangladesh border and a huge population of it comprises of people migrating from East Bengal at the time of partition or the 1971 wars. While the urban and semi-urban tracts largely include Hindus, of which majorities are Baangal or East Bengal migrants, the rural belts largely consist of Muslims.

In this incident what seems apparent is that there is a bid for rabid Islamization which is supported by the Mamata government through her out of the way muslim appeasement policy. Appeasing on section of the community amounts to unconstitutionality and is against the tenets of equality of religion. Otherwise, how a mob of 1000 muslims torched the houses of Hindus and took away their young children at the behest of TMC goons! This calls for an explanation which every Hindu’s right.

Dhulagarh Unrest

A major communal riot erupted in a village at Howrah’s Dhulagarh region, about 28 Kms west of Kolkata. The reports says that Muslims brought out a procession filled with loudspeakers booming Hindi film music to celebrate Eid-e-Milad or Prophet Mohammed’s birthday which actually fell on the previous day and was a public holiday. The present day was being observed as Margashirsha Purnima by the Hindus of Dhulagarh as elsewhere in India.

Hindus of the village requested the people at the procession to reduce the loudspeaker volume as the music was disturbing a few of the rituals. A section of the procession got incensed at this and began attacking Hindu houses and shops. The local people maintain that the assaulters were Muslims from outside and the Hindu properties were looted and set on fire, whereas the police entering the village were attacked with bombs and obstructed from stopping the rioters.

Locals and leaders of a Hindu social organization, the Hindu Samhati allege that the assault on Hindus at Dhulagarh, like in other areas which have taken place with increasing frequency throughout Bengal since the past few years, were pre-planned. They raise questions as to why people forming part of a mob to celebrate the Prophet’s birthday carry sticks, choppers and other deadly weapons along with acid bottles to hurl at shops, kerosene and diesel which were used to light Hindu houses and shops ablaze after looting them and country-made bombs to throw at the police. The Hindu Samhati leader Prashanta Sen asks as to why the procession was called on a day following Eid-e-Milad and why the procession included non-locals.

Communal riots broke out last October at 12 places across the state over Durga Puja immersions and processions of Muharram tazia. This was also prompted by Mamata Banerjee who  prohibited immersion of idols of Goddess Durga on Dashmi or the final day of the 4 day Durga Puja and the following day on the pretext that it would clash with Muharram processions. She desired that immersions should be done before 4 pm on Dashmi day or 2 days subsequent.

Though the Calcutta High Court came down strongly on the restrictions, the damage had already been done and the simmering discontent between the two communities escalated into full-scale riots due to clashes between the two religious processions.

Mamta abuses and exploits her power and standing extensively for keeping a firm grip on the unsuspecting majority of her electorate, occasionally buying her way to the desired result. The population of West Bengal has become divided into scattered regions and areas of land controlled primarily by goons posing as party workers of the two leading parties – TMC and CPM who employ them with promises of sure posts in the state government.

The problem is further compounded by the huge influx of unaccounted Bangladeshi immigrants into the Indian territory and fast altering demographics which adds to the terrorism and communalism.

Mamata’s blatant appeasement of the Muslim Community to garner their votes including her support to fundamentalist groups like the Jamaat-e-Islami and the passive role of her administration in the event of communal unrest and riots has plunged Bengal into the jaws of an imminent catastrophe.