A Kashmir-like situation is coming up in West Bengal where influx of Bangladeshis has seen mushroom growth of anti-national forces
Indranill Basu Ray
Basirhat and Baduria are now home to one of the worst riots in Bengal’s history. Initially, it was hard to believe that these serene regions could turn into such a hell. The communal tension was apparently sparked by some offensive comments posted by a 17-year old boy on Facebook.
In order to understand the ominous transformation of Bengal over the last few decades which has now problems like that of infiltration, smuggling, human trafficking, among others, one has to take into consideration the role of the successive state governments. Thirty-four years of Communist rule in West Bengal followed by the present government of Trinamool Congress (TMC) have only tried to strengthen their vote bank. They ensured, and even subtly encouraged, mobs of radicalised Muslims to enter and settle in India from the neighboring country of Bangladesh. These “foreign” nationals were provided ration cards to establish their “Indian” nationality. This innocuous activity, initiated by the Communists, continued for over three decades and was promptly adopted and perpetuated by the present state government under Mamata Banerjee. Although Basirhat always had a Muslim population for decades, these Muslims were converts, who have stayed for generations and have not jumped the fence to come to India. Thus, there was a homogenous multi-religious demographic fabric that coexisted with perfect amity.
The law and order scene in Bengal has been dismal since Mamta Banerjee “Didi” took over as the Chief Minister. This state with a female Chief Minister continues to be amongst the least safe places in India, especially for women. Corruption is rampant in every echelon of the government. The failure of the government in curbing the increasing tide of crime is worrying.
All these evils were further abated and augmented by the influx of illegal Bangladeshi nationals that was allowed with a clear electoral motive. The Congress rulers in Delhi, during the seventies and eighties, enabled this radical demographic change in Bengal, by looking the other side.
Interestingly, Bengal’s downslide had started during the three decades of the Communist rule under the CPM strongman, Jyoti Basu. His non-performing rule on the developmental front, rendered West Bengal lose its status from its past standing. It is worth recalling that in the initial years after the Independence West Bengal fared
exceptionally well and was perceived as one of the most industrialised states in the country.
In fact, until the mid-60s, Bengal was the second most industrialised state that surpassed the state of Bombay, (i.e. Maharashtra and Gujarat combined), as far as the number of factories and employment were concerned. The last years of the Communist rule under Buddhadev Bhattacharya were ironically quite different from the iron curtain years of his predecessor. Inheriting a Communist rule plagued with labour unrest, pauperism with mounting loans, lack of investment and widespread unemployment, he tried to lure his comrades towards a more developmental outlook.
The lumpen proletariat, who had garnered considerable power in Jyoti Basu’s style of working, felt unnerved by this change and decided to change loyalties, giving rise to TMC. The people of Bengal were less agreeable to giving Mr Bhattacharya another chance, despite the fact that they had tolerated the non-functioning Jyoti Basu’s Stalinist regime for over 30 years.
The Communists, who dominated the Bengali social and political space for a very long time, were successful in holding on to power, despite their abject lack of performance. This was possible because they continued to increase their voter base by settling down illegal Bangladeshis who had crossed from across the border. Thus, decades of unrestrained infiltration had caused a huge spike in the Bangladeshi Muslim population in West Bengal. Census data
indicates that the Muslim population in the state is approaching pre-partition levels, with Muslims constituting 27 percent of the total population in 2011, it is at the peak of 29 percent in 1941. The figures raise concern when compared with the share in 1951, which stood at 19.5 percent after mass migration during the 1947
partition. The numbers and the issue become alarming when the decadal accretion rate is factored into the story. The growth rate among Muslims for the period 2001-11 in West Bengal stood at 1.77 percent, which was abnormally high when compared to the national accretion rate among Muslims at 0.8 percent for the same period. Only a
sustained surge of foreign nationals can be attributed to being the reason for such an unnatural growth.
This has created islands of majority Bangladeshi native population in Bengal, from where Hindus have been hounded out or left in fear leaving these foreign citizens to rule the roost and even engage in the institution of Sharia laws at their convenience. Both, the Communists and the present Mamata Banerjee government, were more than happy to turn a blind eye as it suited their vote bank politics.
Although Basirhat cannot be compared to Kashmir, India’s fabled Paradise, the situation here is alarming enough and would not be an exaggeration to call this a Kashmir-like situation that may soon get completely out of hands. With rampant global
terrorism, the border areas in Bengal have become haven for terrorists. With incidents of recent terrorist attacks in Bangladesh and killing of secular bloggers in Bangladesh, India cannot remain insulated for long. With accidental discovery of Bangladeshi militants hiding in Burdwan district of Bengal after the blast in 2014 and occasional arrests of Bangladeshi nationals (read militants) it is time to wake up and act. Giving into Islamic hardliners for more votes is a threat to the national security.
Moreover, the tragedy is that while Bangladesh is trying hard to counter radicalised Muslim groups in their own
country, petty political consideration and minority appeasement has been creating a growing mob of radicalised aliens in our country who go around rioting, raping, burning police stations and buildings. Despite adequate constitutional measures taken to book the minor who had created the Facebook post that spurred these violent riots, the radicalised Islamists harp on initiating Sharia law and killing the “culprit.”
It is thus important to understand that this is not a religious problem but one created by political rulers from Bengal resulting in a massive surge of radical Islamist aliens from Bangladesh. Thus it is important to take the initiative in the national interest to appropriately remedy the situation. Primarily by improving control over the law and order and hunting out the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. Ordinary Hindus and Muslims must be left in peace and at the same time instilling confidence in them
reaffirming that Bengal is not a banana republic held hostage by goons under a religious pretext. Bengal, the land of Swami Vivekananda, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Aurobindo, is in peril thanks to conceited, insular political libido of its erstwhile and the present junta. It is thus morally mandated that nationalists get above their political exigencies to save this part of our motherland from its days of the deepest crisis.
(The author is a Cardiologist and the Chairman of Indo-American Developmental Council)
