Borders, murders and good human beings

New Delhi and Dhaka recently had a ‘historic’ summit. Calling something 'historic' must be one of the most vacuous cliches of these times. Hindustani PR-wallahs and make-up artists with English-language skills worked hard to guarantee the occasion a fair and lovely spectacle. But Bengalis can’t appreciate that dazzling display in an air still heavy with the smell of Felani Khatun’s blood. Knowing more about Felani might be useful in getting clues to that timeless question that the more powerful and violent often ask, a question that has been asked by certain Indians to Bangladesh, ever since 1971, with an air of innocence that only the extremely powerful and ruthless can carry off shamelessly in public: 'Why do they hate us?'

During the US invasion and occupation of Vietnam, Kolkata protested by renaming the street on which the US consulate is situated after Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s supreme leader. Kolkata's street renaming stunt was designed to be something of a minor shame and predicament. The tactic of renaming streets to embarrass the powerful can be infectious. Infections spread easily among the same people. Hence, many in Dhaka demanded that the street in front of the Indian High commission be renamed after Felani.

Fifteen-year old ‘illegal’ Felani of East Bengal worked in New Delhi. She also happened to be a human — a quality that no shadow of illegality can hide. In 2011, while she was crossing the barbed-wire border between the two Bengals, she was shot. The murdered, bloodied body of this girl hung grotesquely on the barbed-wire fence erected by the Indian Union’s Border Security Force (BSF). We live in times of refined aesthetics. Pictures of murdered bodies are offensive, murder of children by men-in-uniform drawing monthly salaries from the public isn't. We want to inculcate this sensibility in our children so that they become 'good human beings'. Anglophone make-up artists are never in short supply in boardrooms, newsrooms, universities and 'Lok' Sabhas to explain the meaning of words such as 'good' and 'human' under this tri-colour tent. Indian Union’s 'free' media didn’t disturb your ‘sensibility’ with horrific pictures of the murdered girl Felani. The rest of the world saw it. But inside the Indian Union, we are safe from being ashamed.

BSF man Amiya Ghose is Felani’s alleged murderer. In June 2013, BSF's own inquiry court pronounced him ‘not guilty’, hence another 'good, human being'. Felani's poor family saw what went on in the name of ‘inquiry’ but took India’s ‘Satyamev Jayate’ slogan seriously. Hence, another 'special' BSF court again acquitted this BSF man on July 3, 2015. And if this trial of BSF man by other BSF men without any public scrutiny seems okay because the victim was an ‘illegal’ Bangladeshi, let’s remember that most allegations of major human-rights violations against BSF men in the Bengal border pertain to crimes against people of West Bengal. Clearly, people living near the border, under the 'protection' of the BSF aren't 'good human beings' as they habitually make false allegations about crimes that the ‘good’ local police mostly don’t dare register. Indian Union must come up with a plan to inject greater nationalist feeling into these areas, so that the morale of the BSF men is not affected by minor complaints of murder, torture, rape, slave labour, beatings, extortion and stealing — in short, activities that are pre-conditions of ensuring ‘national security’ of a nation-state built on the edifice of truth and nothing but the truth. But wicked people say, there isn’t enough tri-colour Khadi in this world to cover the shame of shielding a Khaki. In the other world, Ma Durga metes out justice disregarding colours of this world.

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