Anti-Muslim sentiment gives social sanction to BJP in Tagore's land

KOLKATA: From Singur to Simulia, the political scene in Bengal is undergoing a paradigm shift. Once the key players — Congress and Left Front — that ruled the state for long 64 years, are no longer the front runners. Even the Trinamool's coming to power in 2011 seems to be a development in the passing. The Tata factory in Singur is a dated debate by now, with public attention turning to terror factories spread across the state.
Bengal has a history of political terror. Gory incidents in Suchpur, Nanoor, Nandigram, Arambagh showcase the terror story followed by Maoist ambush in Jangalmahal during the Left Front regime. The Mamata Banerjee government continued with the legacy as evident from the recent killings in Burdwan, Parui and Bhangar. But all these were law and order issues till the Burdwan blast gave violence a new dimension altogether. It showed that the danger has come closer home.
Terror as such, has no religion and it ignores geographical boundaries. Yet, the developments in Khagragarh and Simulia have a religious subtext. Preliminary findings by the National Investigation Agency show that terrorists have used some of unrecognised madrasas — centres of Islamic theological training set up to teach atfal among muslim kids. Launcher designs, deadly chemicals such as potassium chlorate and picric acid, recovered the blast site point to a larger design, posing a threat to national security. Nearly a year ago, human rights activist Shahriar Kabir in Kolkata touched upon the contours of growing Islamic fundamentalism in his book named Potrait of Jihad.
The shock has brought back some issues on the back of the public mind from the days of Partition. Take a peek at the informal discussions in city parks — Regent Estate, Santoshpur, Jadavpur, Bijoygarh in south Kolkata, initially refugee settlements and Left strongholds. The educated urban middle class has started talking about "minority appeasement", "vote bank" politics and state governments — Left Front and Trinamool — going soft on infiltration from Bangladesh that has made way for terrorists. The apathy is slowly taking shape into a hate campaign against muslims as one moves northward — Dum Dum, Belghoria, Kamarhati, Panihati, Barasat and Basirhat — in North 24 Parganas. The anti-muslim sentiment has given a social sanction to the BJP in Tagore's land. The ghotis (people rom this part of Bengal) and the hindi speaking population from Bhowanipore to Shyampukur have found in the Modi government a tool to keep the muslims under leash.
The bottomline is that the secular vote in Bengal's urban and peri-urban areas is under siege. Even mainstream parties including the Left have got their supporters divided on religious lines at the grassroots. No wonder then, that the BJP is the rising force. Going by the 2014 Lok Sabha poll results, the BJP has emerged as a determining force in six districts — Kolkata (27.27%), North 24 Parganas (21.43%), Nadia (21.12%), Dakshin Dinajpur (22.50%), Jalpaiguri 23.24%) and Darjeeling (47.68%). The party had an alliance with the Gokha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. The party is ahead in as many as 24 assembly segments, while the Left are in 28. BJP won Darjeeling and Siliguri and its candidate for south Kolkata was ahead of the Trinamool in Mamata Banerjee's home turf Bhowanipore assembly segment though he ended up second in the race.
The saffron surge didn't plateau here. BJP candidate Shamik Bhattacharya won the Basirhat assembly polls devouring the Left in a constituency that had elected CPM's Narayan Mukherjee seven times in a row. "Even sections of muslims disillusioned with the Trinamool government has joined our party in pockets of Birbhum and South Parganas. In fact the party's first martyr in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls is a muslim," said Bhattacharya. The party's membership has doubled during this period, it is expecting a major breakthrough in the coming city civic polls.
Not only Basirhat, the BJP's gain has mostly been the Left's pain in all the districts. The CPM in its electoral analysis has conceded that it is not being able to attract the new voters. "For a population that has never suffered major riots after 1964, it is difficult to explain the BJP danger simply by the Godhra riots. The new generation has believed in Narendra Modi's achhe din campaign. It will continue till the dream shatters," a CPM leader said.
However, the BJP can't make a break through in Bengal by consolidating hindu votes only. There is a counter consolidation going on among the muslims who are determining force in as many as 51 of the 294 constituencies in Bengal. Taken together with dalits like the Mulayam-Mayawati model, the figure goes up to 141 — the reason why BJP is concentrating on the dalits in Bengal.
"We all condemn terrorism, and acts of subversion against our country. But why is this effort to link madrasa education with terrorism? The NIA should identify terrorists who misused the madrasa. But would it be fair to link the Malegaon blasts with hinduism on the plea that some sadhvis name came up in the blast?" said Shahnaj Nabi, head of the department of urdu, Calcutta University. "I have no objection if all the madrasas including the unrecognised ones are brought under some sort of a monitoring by a body with representation from muslim clerics. But I won't accept the terrorist tag given with a motive on madrasas," she said.
Saying that Indian muslims have equal share in the country's freedom, Nabi said: "We didn't leave this country during the 1964 riots in Kolkata. Why should one brand the entire muslim population as terrorists?" Nabi instead harped on cooperation between people of the countries — India and Bangladesh. "Now I am afraid. I will think twice before going on a delegation to a university in Bangladesh. Some people may suspect that I am going there with some ulterior motive," Nabi said. The urdu professor isn't happy with the Mamata Banerjee government. "Mamata Banerjee should come forward and take a bold stand. I have criticisms against the Left Front. When in government for so long, the party didn't empower the muslims in the fields of education and jobs. But one thing it did. It made us feel secure," the CU HOD said. She hastened to add that a large sections of muslims might vote for Mamata only to keep the BJP at bay as the Left is no longer a major force in many constituencies.
Qari Altafur Rahman runs the Babul Quran Ajmatia Madrasa at 11 Watgunge Road. "It is an unrecognised madrasa meant to teach salamti to kids from 6-10 years. We give them theological training along with bengali and hindi. Come to my place and see if I am spreading terrorism," the madrasa head said. The qari is however averse to taking government recognition. "Whenever the government comes in and funds the madrasa it will push its representatives which we don't want. I have no faith in political parties, and governments other than the Supreme Court," said Rahman.
Hindu activists, on the other hand, is not a mood to accept the independence that religious minorities — muslims, buddhists, christians — enjoy as provided in the Constitution. They point to the private unaided schools namely Sarada Sishu Tirtha or the Banabashi Kalyan Samity — being run allegedly by hindu missionaries at Nagrakata, or other places in Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri in north Bengal that are recognised by the state board.
Congress leader and MLA from Alipurduar Debaprasad Roy blames the Mamata Banerjee government for distorting secular politics. "Mamata Banerjee claims that she runs a secular party, but her overtures are actually distorting it. On one hand, she is gagging the dissenting voice, and her men are luring elected representatives of the Opposition to manufacture consent for Trinamool. She is creating division everywhere for narrow political gains thus prompting people to think of saffron as alternative," Roy said.
Sensing the public mood, the Left Front is trying hard to go back to the masses and take up economic issues affecting their lives. CPM politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra has been leading the peasant jathas that have touched 30,000 of the 38,000 villages in Bengal. CPM central committee member Shyamal Chakrabarty reminisced the days of the tebhaga movement in the late Forties. "It began just days within the Great Calcutta killings in 1946, turning the country's attention to the peasant movement, and not riots. We need to build movements on issues that can touch the minds of masses," Chakrabarty said. That is less easy than said. CPM is a decaying force till date and people are not in a mood to choose the Left Front as Trinamool's alternative. In a hurry to come back to power, CPM leader Gautam Deb is in a way trying to play up the matua issue with an eye on the Bongaon assembly bypoll where the matua community, comprising mostly of namashurdras from Orakandi in Bangladesh, is a majority. The CPM's North 24 Parganas unit has planned a stir with the matuas coming to India after the cut-off date March 25, 1971, asking for their refugee status. The slogan goes in tune with the BJP's slogan for treating hindu migrators from Bangladesh as refugees, and muslims as infiltrators.
Mamata Banerjee isn't indulging in this debate. For she has a minister from the matua community in her Cabinet. What annoys her is the rising rising resentment among men who brought her to power. Her urban middle class vote bank is under threat. Mamata thus eyes on the rural poor including the muslims to steer clear in the electoral battle. She has a long list of doles on offer. It includes the hundred-days work, free treatment in district hospitals, free distribution of winter garments among students of government and government-aided schools and rations at Rs 2 a kg. The party enjoys popular support in the rural belt still as evident in the Basirhat bypolls. BJP won, but Trinamool increased its vote share squeezing out the Left in rural Basirhat.