“I do not wish to tire the patience of the House but the most painful and the most humiliating aspect of these atrocities has been the tragic dealings with Hindu women. One’s voice is choked completely to make any public speech on an issue like this. If you read the names, addresses and the manner in which this violation has gone on during the last few months it staggers one, Sir. It was the carrying away of one Sita that created the Ramayana. It was the disrobing of one woman, Draupadi, that created the Mahabharat and today even though large scale outrages have occurred we are sitting tight, helpless, impotent, If you bring this to the notice of the Government, they will say ‘Well, we need actual proof’.” – Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee,Migrations Between Pakistan And India, Lok Sabha Debates, November 15 1952, pp. 596–619
The attack on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) when they went to arrest the Ration Scam accused Sheikh Shahjahan was shocking enough. The shameless defence of such a blatantly unconstitutional act of attacking the officers on duty reflected the state of law and order situation in West Bengal. Now, the Sandeshkhali horror, where every day, a new video of a woman covering her face, somehow daring to put her trauma in words, is not just shameful but also heart-wrenching. Why do Hindu women of Sandeshkhali have to go through such an ordeal where they have to choose between the safety of their male family members and their honour? Is it a new phenomenon for Bengal? What are the root causes of such inhuman acts?
The history of atrocities against women is not new to Bengal. The prevalence of atrocities against Hindus and the perpetuation of increased numbers of women performing Sati was rooted in the rule of Nawab. As per the Indian Records Series, ruler Siraj-Ud-Daulah, the last Muslim Nawab of Bengal, would kidnap beautiful Hindu women while bathing on the banks of the Ganga. During monsoon, his entertainment was sinking ferry boats in the wild currents to watch hapless Hindus drowning. If we look at the Partition times, which Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee painfully referred to in Parliament, it was the continuation of the same trend. The news of atrocities, abductions, rapes and destructions of temples that come from the partitioned areas of Bharat, that are Pakistan and Bangladesh, also tell the identical story.
Unfortunately, even after the bloody Partition, we are listening to the same atrocious stories from Bengal, whether after the Assembly elections in 2021 or now in Sadeshkhali. As per the fact-finding report prepared by the Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA), Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) Khela-Hobe had the primary modus operandi aimed “to debilitate political opponents by targeting their bodies, economic resources, and their psychological well-being. This involves physical and sexual attacks, destruction of living spaces, property and means of production however small they are”. Then, denial in the form of argument that there is no proof as no victim has filed any case and accusation of federalism in danger was the response from Mamata Banerjee, her party, politicised state machinery, media persons and intellectuals sitting in Delhi. The response of Mamata and her sickular gang is not very different now. Accusing the voices of the victims as part of propaganda and incitement by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is nothing but an act of whitewashing the crimes and shielding the criminals.
The appeasement politics started by the Communist parties and continued by the TMC have transformed the demography of Sandeshkhali and other 14 Assembly segments in the 24-Paragana districts. These areas, along with Murshidabad and Malda, have become the epicentres of all the illegal, criminal activities, including cow-smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal migration and printing of counterfeit currency. The politicisation of the entire State machinery, which has been the hallmark of all Communist-ruled States, has been perfected by the Mamata regime, which allowed criminals like Sheikh Shahjahan to create their own criminal dens. They control all aspects of life and, like Nawabs, also weaponise atrocities against women as a sign of their political power. In the year 2000, in a similar case, Islamists killed four of the Swayamsevaks of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for raising the issue of crime against women in the Basanti Assembly constituency.
No denial or whataboutery would give us any solution. In a democracy, any form of violence is unacceptable and weaponising gender abuse as a sign of power is an inhuman symbol of the medieval mindset. The issues of gender justice and human rights cannot be selective. Demography cannot define the nature of democracy. Unless we discuss, deliberate and nip the root cause in the bud, we will be witnessing more Sandeshkhali, which no civilised democracy can afford.
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