Arun Srivastava
Rightist forces are on prowl across the globe. What has been happening in UK and to some extent in Bangladesh are interrelated and are the components of the universal rightist design to consummate the secular and liberal forces.
Emergence of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which campaigned on an anti-Europe and anti-immigration ticket and promised to “change politics forever” as the new face of far rightist politics at the July 4 parliamentary election, made it abundantly clear that rightist politics would determine the future political culture of UK.
Farage’s rightist politics has impressed the Britons to such an extent that while his party managed to get around 15 per cent of the popular vote, he, who had tried and failed to make his way to the Commons many times before, managed to enter the parliament for the first time in his political career as the MP for Clacton. He played the nationalist card in the form of espousing Brexit. He nevertheless conveniently forgot that it was Brexit and confusion and isolation that came with it that made UK lose its importance to a great extent in international politics.
The recent week long riots across UK clearly underline that a major section of the white Britons has been communalised. The right groups attacked hotels and public buildings. What has been most ridiculous is the rightist forces do not apply their minds and are always eager to lap up any opportunity to flare communal passion.
On July 29, three girls aged between six and nine were killed by a 17 year old boy at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event for children in the seaside town of Southport, in northern England. The rightists aand anti- immigrant lobby immediately spread the news that boy was an Islamist migrant. This provoked the white Britons which soon acquired the character of violent anti-Muslim protests in Southport the following day and an attempt to attack the town’s mosque. Within a couple of days, the violence spread across Britain. This fanning out simply underlines that rightist politics and forces have penetrated deep into the social structure of Britain.
Incidentally the very next day of this sordid episode the identity of the boy was revealed. The teenager charged with murder is a Britisher. The attack was not an act of terrorism. But the damage was already done. The rightist forces had planned to use the incident to spread terror and animosity amongst the communities and also to embarrass the Labour government. The intensity of communalisation of British society was also manifest in several thousand people gathering near British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Downing Street office the day after the Southport trouble and also clashed with the police.
The rightist owe an explanation when it got deciphered that it was not an attack by Muslim guy, what was the rationale of organising this protest near 10, Downing street? Their machination exposes their real intentions to communalise and polarise the British society. There have since been riots in more than 20 places across Britain. The rightist forces have been working on the political line of obstructing the entry of Asian migrants. Anti-immigration and anti-Muslim activists have ironically been projecting themselves as true “nationalist and patriotic” forces.
The racist agitation that has spread across UK has wider implication; first, to discourage migrants from entering into UK and then to destabilise the white orking class support base of Labour Party. With Starmer in office, the rightists are scared that his move to shed away the leftist image would entice even the liberal supporters of Conservative Party.. This would prove to be dangerous for Farage and his party to expand. .
True to the rightist mechanism, disinformation and misinformation have had pivotal role in the last seven days. There have been a lot of deliberate instigators on social media: lot of people, actually, who wouldn’t perpetrate violence themselves, but will easily goad other people into doing so. It is worth taking note of remarks of Amanda Onwuemene, policing spokesperson for the left-wing Green Party: “Nigel Farage has whipped up violence and incited hatred by consistently making totally inaccurate claims. He has spent years encouraging racism and toxifying our public debate and has significant responsibility for the horrific violence we’ve seen over the past week”.
The Indian rightist forces have also been using the same tactics post Bangladesh turmoil. RSS and its frontal organisations have been playing the most dangerous game. Its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale expressed serious concern over incidents of violence against Hindus, Buddhists and other minority communities in Bangladesh during the recent movement for regime change. What was really shocking, he came out with the statement without validating the veracity of the incidents. He said cruelties such as targeted killings, looting, arson and heinous crimes against women belonging to the Hindu community and other religious minorities, as well as attacks against Hindu temples in Bangladesh, are intolerable.There were some attacks against the minorities, but till now, it has not spread.
His statement has not surprised. It has been in line with the core politics of the BJP and the ideology of the Sangh. It is astonishing how could he ignore the fact that Awami League cadres and students, especially Muslims, have been guarding the temples and houses of the Hindus. Hosabale even tried to internationalise it by requesting the global community to stand in solidarity with persecuted communities. . He was trying to portray some stray incidents as persecution of Hindus. Some senior BJP leaders and even Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have urged Narendra Modi to intervene and ensure the “safety of Hindus” in Bangladesh.
Undeniably some Hindus were targeted and attacked. But before generalisation about the attack, the RSS and saffron ecosystem should have tried to find out who are the attackers. It is not that they are unaware of the fact their CIA backed ISI and Pakistan supported Jamaat E Islami elements have been resorting to violence. Their targeting Hindus has deep-rooted historical animosity towards India. In fact by targeting Hindus they are actually attacking India, which had broken Pakistan in two pieces and gave birth to Bangladesh.
The most unfortunate has been role played by a secion of TV media. . They are projecting unsubstantiated incidents to justify their news that Muslims are attacking Hindus. A number of such incidents have been exposed through fact search. A video on the Times Group channel went to extent of claiming that Mass Murders are taking place. Bad luck for the channel the video which projected houses of Hindus being attacked by the Muslims, were actually of Muslims and were attacked by the right wing Islamic mercenaries. The title of the video is clearly misleading as there was no mass murders reported in the incident.Like Britain, in India also, the anti-Right forces have to be vigilant against the activities and statements of te Sangh Parivar. The situation in our eastern border is very fluid. There is need for tolerance and caution for maintaining peace in the region.(IPA Service)
According to report appearing in Al Jazeera only two Hindus have been killed since Hasina’s ouster on Monday; one police officer and one activist with Hasina’s Awami League party. The video had claimed “24 burnt alive by mob” and “Minorities at the centre of attacks”.
AS in UK, the Muslim migrants have been at the target of the rightist attack for occupying space which should have automatically gone to native Britishers, an attempt is being made that “more than one crore [10 million] refugees are likely to enter West Bengal soon”. This allegation has come from Suvendu Adhikari, senior BJP leader close to Modi.
Nevertheless a report carried by a foreign newspaper quotes Gobindra Chandra Pramanik, a leader of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, saying “As a leader of the Hindu community, I can confirm that these attacks were politically motivated, not communal. In fact across the country, 10 times more Muslim households affiliated with the Awami League were attacked.” The rightist show their concern for Hindus in Bangladesh, but they, not even in their dreams show their concern about minorities in India.
As in UK, the Muslims are attacking white Britishers, the Hindu bigots are spreading news through fake videos that Hindus are being attacked by Muslims. In this backdrop some Bangladesh newspapers deserve appreciation for taking an independent stand and exposing the designs of Hindu bigots. A husband beating his wife has been projected as Muslims beating a Hindu women.
The entire disinformation appears to have been planned and executed by the BJP IT cell. The report showed that an incident of Chhatra League men being thrown off a building on 16 July in Chattogram was being passed off as an incident of a Hindu hostel. A picture of a union parishad chairman Selim Khan being beaten to death was passed off as that of a Hindu man.
The RSS and Hindu zealots resorting to this rancorous mechanism has not come as surprise. Like Farage of Reform UK, RSS and BJP have been using this to win the assembly elections to Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. The Bangladesh incident has provided them with the prospect of polarising the Hindus. Winning these elections which are to take place sometime in November this year are crucial for resurrection of RSS and survival of Modi. (IPA Service)
