West Bengal is in the news once more and certainly for bad reasons, as expected by all except the state’s ruling clique. At the moment, second round of the Loksabha Election – 2019 has come to an end and the entire state has been gripped by umpteen cases of violence. Well, violence has been part and parcel of Bengal’s political scenario and hence, such developments, to the surprise of the rest of India, fail to create any wonder here. Be it the late 60s or the fiery 70s or the subsequent 34-year long Left Front’s hegemony and certainly, the last 7-year old Trinamool nemesis in Bengal, execution of violence to retain local dominance, bloodbath has been a too common notion. But there is an uncanny development at this time. The state of West Bengal, ever since its birth on June 20, 1947 through dreadful confrontations with (then) Muslim League, has not witnessed this (newest) phenomenon ever – Hindus, authentic Indian citizens without a shred of doubt, have been precluded from casting their own votes. Reason? It is being learnt, the religious denomination has proved to be the greatest catastrophe.
Let’s get more specific. In accordance with fresh press reports coming in, this ominous development took place only on yesterday in Raiganj, when the second phase of polling was going on in high esteem across the nation. Amidst all these, in a village of Raiganj parliamentary constituency, Hindu voters were discriminated only on religious lines. It has been learnt, a large of number of them were prevented from making any advancement to the polling booth while to others, bogus votes (in their names) had already been cast and this startling reality came to the fore once they reached the nearest polling station braving all odds. Till now, any inhabitant in Bengal would term the development as quite normal or like macher jhol to the daily Bengali cuisine. Perhaps he/she has also been victim of such untoward incidents ever.
Nonetheless, this village stands quite different to all such hideous experiences of the past. As alleged by villagers, only the Hindu voters were stopped by Islamists from making further advancements and as part of a clamor, their identity cards were also forcibly taken away. What led to this? When asked, it was heard that Hindus, considered as loyal vote bank to BJP, couldn’t have been given a chance by the ruling Trinamool and its Islamist votaries. Any such success of Hindu Nationalists is enough to jeopardize the TMC lot which is a complete no-no to Islamists of many hues as well. According to Bablu Bairagi (name withheld), there was a wild apprehension as well since such rumors of not allowing Hindus to cast their votes also with communal strife were on the rise both within the village and its adjoining quarters. In the words of Sushanta Das (also name withheld), “While I was moving to the polling station along with my wife, we were suddenly attacked by a few people, all Muslims.”
The alleged village with a Muslim-majority has leaning to a single political party or the Trinamool Congress en masse and since the entire Bengal is getting vitriolic ever more where religious polarization is as evident as broad daylight, no chances of truly democratic experiments can be allowed by the ruling elite. “Apart from slanging, they also warned us of dire consequences. Hindus are just a hopeless minority bloc in this village. So, we had to return.”
What were the polling officials doing? While one of them had been learnt to express helplessness, the presiding officer was witnessed to brush aside the responsibility to identify voters. Meanwhile, Bengal BJP’s state unit has approached the State Election Commission in Kolkata and lodged a complaint against TMC’s highhandedness and its unbridled acts of violence to rule the roost. Pointing to how TMC cadres tried to capture booth at Raiganj Coronation High School, BJP candidate Sm. Debasree Chowdhury has also vented her protests stating, “TMC workers were trying to capture booth. They were campaigning among Muslims there. This isn’t election campaign.”
It must also be stated, at least at this time, CPIM has been found to be beaten by its own weapons used once. Only on the last day, the convoy of Mohammed Salim or CPIM’s electoral candidate at Raiganj was attacked by a flock of unknown, masked people with firing shots and hurling bricks along with stones. Well, the CPIM MP managed to escape in the end.
In the meantime, Chopra falling under the Darjeeling parliamentary constituency has also been witnessing sharp blows on a steady note. The assembly constituency (know for communal smackdowns for decades at a stretch) akin to many other places across the state has also fallen victim to fulminant and inexcusable acts of violence leaving a class 7 student severely injured owing to bullet injury. The spate of violent clashes has been going on vigorously with no prospect of ending so soon, till the last report came in. All parties, it is no more a secret, are in belligerent postures. While the ruling clique is vehement to curb the entire opposition in one go, an act of desperation is found among opponents to save their own skin and also kith and kin.
The sudden act of violence commenced from a definite zone of a village (undisclosed yet) in the assembly constituency of Chopra and soon spread like a wild fire, especially when an angry mob staged a blockade close to the national highway. To disperse the fuming crowd, police had mo option except to adopt strong measures of lathi-charge and firing tear gas shells. And the saga of violence flared up only when a bunch of hooligans tried to prevent a handful of locals from casting their votes at the Digirpar polling station. An effort to snatch EPIC cards of voter ID cards took place as well leading to a brawl, road blockade and adoption of strong-arm tactics by the administration.
It has already been expressed and in the first paragraph, how violence has become a part and parcel of Bengal’s political scenario and how an election devoid of any human loss is found to be both inconceivable and nonsensical in the state. Without doubt, this happens to be grave violation of the sanctified principles engraved in the Constitution of India meant for all-round development of the nation but the crude reality can’t be escaped. The Marxist bane together its dogma of “political power grows out from the barrel of a gun” is deep-seated by now and perchance gargantuan measures are needed to restore democracy in the state, known to be the flambeau once. Is anything left? This is only the second phase of parliamentary election in the state to be followed by more and to worst apprehensions of many, Bengal would be swept by a trail of violence unless Central Forces are positioned with meticulous analysis.