North East and West Bengal Being Turned Into a Communal Cauldron

NEW DELHI: The horrific rape of the 71 year old nun, the desecration of the chapel and the looting of a Christian missionary school in Ranaghat, West Bengal; the lynching of a “Bangladeshi” in Dimapur by a mob are all recent pointers towards what activists and politicians in the North East and West Bengal now fear might be a new phase of large scale violence against the minorities in the eastern region of India.

A senior political leader said, “everything is pointing towards an unchecked political campaign” with right wing groups active all over the North East and West Bengal in polarising society. In the north east the campaign against Bangladeshi immigrants is gathering strength and spreading out of Assam to all the states. In Assam itself two major incidents of violence against the Muslims and the Adivasis in Bodoland, resulting in deaths and large scale displacement of thousands, took place within a span of just five months with the state simmering with created tensions between the communities.

This writer was told by activists and political leaders in Assam that the state was “burning up” with the Congress government under Tarun Gogoi unable to counter the challenge of the divisive and communal forces that were hard at work campaigning on the “Bangladeshi” card. Those who had witnessed the large scale violence in 1982 when hundreds of Bengali speaking Muslims had been butchered by rampaging mobs across Assam claimed that the conditions were similar, and the winds of hatred being incited through rumours, social media and quiet “under cover” political campaigns were blowing through the state with increasing ferocity.

The Dimapur lynching of an alleged rapist branded as a “Bangladeshi” by the same forces in what clearly was an undetected but virulent campaign in the state has come as a major warning that the issue is spreading to other parts of the north eastern region. The lynching was preceded by a vicious campaign on the social media, with the police standing by while the mob entered the prison and dragged out the undertrial, dragging him, beating him and lynching what by then was a dead body. The Assam government has been demanding action because of local pressure with the Bengali speaking population in the region--particularly the Muslims---worried and terrified about their security.

A certain unrest has crept into the North East again with sources pointing out that at least 30 low intensity bomb blasts have taken place across Manipur, without being reported. The sources said that various groups were at work and given the current situation of heightened tensions, increasingly polarised communities, fractious militant groups the current campaign against Bangladeshis that is being pursued “relentlessly” could have “disastrous” results.

West Bengal is also being primed, according to senior political leaders, with the campaign against the minorities gathering momentum in the districts and villages of the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party and its offshoots have made a marked entry into the eastern state, with the rape of the nun being clearly part of the virulent ‘ghar wapsi’ program. After initial whispers from police officers hinting at the same to the media, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said categorically that religious politics was being practised in the name of ghar wapsi. “Religious fanaticism is on the rise,” her government said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under fierce attack on this issue earlier from the Opposition in Parliament who accused him of not doing anything to stop the offensive war being waged by the right wing affiliates of his in different parts of the country. He made a statement after considerable pressure, but clearly little has come of it. Ghar wapsi and the continuing attacks on the Christian missionaries will be a major issue in Parliament when it meets here on Monday.

West Bengal Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim said, "religious fanaticism has been created in the country. Different churches are being attacked at various places. In the name of 'ghar wapsi', people are being religiously provoked." Sources said that the state government will have to crack down on these groups to check the growth of communalism. although till date little has been done by the Trinamool Congress on this front.

Both “Bangladeshi” and “Ghar wapsi” are emotive issues and being used as such to incite mob violence. A systematic campaign to polarise communities is also underway in West Bengal with political leaders from the state confirming this to The Citizen. House to house campaigns by right wing groups is bearing dividends, particularly in the face of a virtually crippled Left and a not very responsive Trinamool Congress. The chief minister’s statement now after the rape, and the Congress party’s advice to her to take strong action, has generated some hope of a shift in strategy against the right wing extremist groups spreading communal poison in the state.