Sermons like “One shouldn’t play games with religion. Dharma means devotion, affection, humanity, peace, amity, culture, harmony, and unity” are taught to the school children. It is just reverse in the real life. In realpolitik these amiable words have no relevance. These were the words articulated by West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee just after the Murshidabad communal violence that shook the confidence and conscience of the people of Bengal last week.
With the politics of communal polarisation and hatred acquiring centre stage, Mamata should have realised that this decorous words have completely lost their relevance. Her call for maintaining calm and unity, not to fall prey to provocation or misinformation came too late. By that time damage had already been inflicted on the political structure of the state, but more than that on the psyche of the people.
She urged citizens to uphold law and order and not to take law into their own hands. Of course poor Muslims of Shamsherganj in Murshidabad did not take the law into their hands. The people who entered into Murshidabad stealthily and left silently have been instrumental in creation of this situation and killing of at least five people. Even after six days of the communal violence, the state police is yet to come out and reveal the identity of the marauders.
Like cadres of Bajrang Dal and other Hindu Senas, there are fundamentalists in Muslims too. They are always on prowl. In places where the local community and political leadership is quite assertive and is in the commanding situation, these zealots could not muster courage to indulge in such crimes. The case of Murshidabad has been quite different. For more than two years the area has been witnessing Muslim fundamentalists trying to stoke violence. And the opportunity was provided by adoption of the Waqf Bill.
It is a known fact Muslims have been quite sensitive to any kind of infringement on their religious sentiments. It is the primary role of the religious gurus and clerics to ensure that no misrepresentation of religious or social facts are made by vested interests. No doubt every caste and religion has the right to protest, but these protests must have a rationale or logical backdrop. A heresy must not be the basis for launching any agitation.
If the Murshidabad violence is a disgrace, rather a stricture on the functioning and decision making capability of the state government, it also underscores absolute failure of the police and intelligence administration. As the fundamentalists have been active in the district for more than two years, they should have been more proactive and alert. But they failed the state, and more than that the political leadership of the state.
For quite some time, it was rumoured that some Muslim fundamentalists from Bangladesh have been frequenting the border district. But the police did not respond in a more proactive manner. Even the state government had come out with the allegation of BSF not paying attention to the matter of illegal entries. The sources maintain that some cultist had visited Shamshergarh and provoked some local vagrants to resort to violent protest. After counselling they went back.
It is said that the religious elements in Bangladesh have been quite angry with India for raising the issue of persecution of Hindus after over throw of Sheikh Hasina from power.. They nurse the view that India was unnecessarily maligning their image and also of Pakistan. Since Murshidabad has been a communally volatile place, the police and intelligence ought to have been more alert. But it is also pointed out that a section of the constabulary has become close to RSS. Local people allege that police did not respond to their calls on the day mayhem was going on in the localities in and around Murshidabad. A local said; “our shops and houses were burnt. Everything was vandalized. We called the police and fire brigade but no one picked up our calls.”
The Murshidabad violence also underscores that the political line that these parties claim to pursue are flawed. Politicians lack vision. Probably they nurse the feeling that mere appeal to maintain peace would work miracle. The secular forces and parties are clueless about what to do, how to contain communal passion and violence. Yet another sign of their political and ideological bankruptcy is their reliance on religious persuasion. The leaders should have become alert at the construction of large number of Masjids and Mandirs. What message these constructions want to convey? Of course people are free to celebrate their religions but the religious sites are on the rise in new areas leading to tension between two communities.
Both Trinamool and BJP claim that outsider forces were involved in violence in Murshidabad’s Suti and Shamsherganj. While state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar holds that it is a “handiwork of some anti-national forces and foreign hands, TMC points to the outside miscreants. Sukanti Majumdar owes an explanation, what the central government led by BJP has been doing to check the influx of people from other countries? The BJP leader of Opposition in state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari said, “PFI, SIMI and Ansarul Bangla, terror groups, are behind this. I think there are also some foreign hands behind the violence in Murshidabad.”
Nevertheless the BJP has been using the Murshidabad incident to reach out to the Bengali Hindus. Suvendu, a former TMC leader who has been known for his anti Muslim vitriolic, is on the record; “In the last few days, Hindus have been targeted in Mothabari, Jangipur, Shamsherganj’s Dhuliyan in Murshidabad, Rishra to Champdani and several other parts of the state. Hindus are being attacked and murdered. Their places of worship vandalised, houses burnt. We must come together. Only BJP can give protection”
BJP has been worried at the Hindu Bengali keeping away from BJP. Though many Hindus are angry with Mamata for her misrule, they are not in the mood to provide a chance to the BJP. The top sources maintain that BJP nurses the hope that Murshidabad incident would help the Bengali Hindus to rally behind BJP. .
Meanwhile TMC’s Jangipur MP Khalilur Rahaman made a startling revelation that attackers were mainly outsiders to Murshidabad and claimed they have seen outsiders and people who were behind the incidents, who were never seen before. TMC MLA Manirul Islam, whose house was vandalised during the violence, said in Dhuliyan “We saw people from various areas. But there were outsiders also on that day.”
It is worth mentioning that a outfit close to RSS and BJP last week held a ritual for construction of Ram Temple at Sagardighi in Murshidabad. Swami Pradiptananda, Maharaj, associated with Bharat Sevashram Sangha, has of late has emerged as a polarising figure in Bengal politics in recent times. He is hailed by BJP as “the Yogi of Bengal” on the lines of UP chief minister Adityanath. The area has been favourite haunting place of RSS cadres who frequent from Jharkhand. Swami is accused of overtly arousing the Hindu passion; “Just as [Hindu deity] Ram had to wield a bow and arrows to defeat Ravan, tribals in the district must keep weapons in their homes to overcome their enemies while chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.”
Shockingly the BJP IT cell has been found to be involved in spreading fake and false news and information about the riot. The TMC information cell has come out with the evidences showing that the state BJP chief Sukanta has been using the photographs of violence that had taken in other states, as relating to Murshidabad incident. The party spokesperson listed at least nine such photographs of Maharashtra, Agra and other places. This obviously aims at projecting Mamata as Hindu hater and raising the communal passion amongst the Hindus.
Apprehensions are also being expressed on the role of Indian Secular Front (ISF), a Muslim political party which has one legislator in the Bengal assembly. Earlier it was in alliance with CPI(M) and Congress. Supporters of the ISF clashed with the police at Bhangar just at the outskirt of Calcutta. In Bhangar the mob burnt five police motorbikes and a police van even as police resorted to lathi charge to disperse the mob. According to the police, the clash erupted when police stopped ISF supporters from going to Ramlila Maidan in Calcutta to attend an anti-Waqf (Amendment) Act rally addressed by ISF MLA Naushad Siddique. (IPA Service)
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