Non-BJP parties in Bengal busy pointing fingers and blaming others for facilitating ‘Hindutva’  

In Bengal, as elsewhere, several generations have grown old hearing that ‘people have been misguided’. With BJP on the rampage in Bengal, the phrase has again gained currency. Bengalis are being misled by BJP’s propaganda is the lament, that one often hears.

What one does not hear is why and how people have been misled. The same set of people after all swore by the Left Front for three and a half decades. The same people had also rallied round Mamata Banerjee less than 10 years ago. What prompted them to first desert the Left for Trinamool Congress and why is a large section of them seem dissatisfied with it today?

The man on the street often ask a simple enough question. “If BJP is really so bad then why have people in so many states reposed their trust in the party and voted for BJP?” And if the argument is that people have been mesmerized and misled, then shouldn’t the responsibility of exposing the hollowness of the BJP lie with political leaders and parties opposed to the BJP? Surely it cannot be the responsibility of the people alone to fight the BJP?

But leaders in Bengal have no answer to such ‘common’ questions. For more than five years, Bengal has seen and heard BJP in action. But entrenched politicians in Bengal have shown no stomach to fight it politically. Indeed, they have shown little inclination to even listen to the common man and try and understand why they are leaning towards the BJP in the state.

Ironically Bengal does have a history of political resistance. People in the state have often stood up to authoritarian governments. And Shaheen Bagh, the recent election in Bihar and the ongoing farmers’ movement have also demonstrated that it is possible to take on the BJP and Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo. These landmark developments show that days of principled and peaceful protests are not over yet.

It’s true that BJP is adept at disconcerting people and sowing doubts; it has enormous financial muscle at its disposal. And it has never been averse to flex its muscles and drive fear among the people. That it can be ruthless is evident to even the common man. Most objective people on the street agree that BJP has been pro-active in destroying individual liberty and freedom. They admit grudgingly that Demonetisation did not hurt the rich. But BJP succeeded in sending out the message that in power, it would do whatever it likes, that the Government is above the people.

There are few examples in history of a government which exults in the suffering of the common man. The BJP Government, like sadistic rulers of medieval times, forced millions of people to leave their shelter; it refused to extend a helping hand or arrange for transport for them to return home. It insisted on spraying migrant labourers on the road with disinfectants. And even when exhausted labourers fell asleep on railway tracks under the mistaken belief that trains were not operational, and were mowed down by a goods train, the government did not show any concern or contrition.

The Government seemed to derive pleasure in directing people to bang pots and pans and light lamps to drive away the coronavirus. It brought in labour laws which now enable the employers to retrench people at will. Farm laws have created panic among farmers who believe they are facing an existential crisis. Protests have led to lodging of FIRs, arrests and to the use of water cannons and tear gas.

The special status of Kashmir was revoked most undemocratically and poets, scholars, lawyers and activists like Varavarrao, Sudha Bhardwaj and Stan Swamy, who raised their voice against injustice and exploitation of tribals and minorities, were framed and put in jail. The Government is allergic to dissent and intolerant of protests which potentially disturbs its perpetual state of intoxication.

The veneer of electoral democracy has been used to suggest that the Government in power has the mandate to do what it pleases; that it has a mandate to be arbitrary and whimsical, that it is under no obligation to hold dialogues with dissatisfied sections of the population. Defection of elected MLAs and trading of MLAs have been legitimized. The ‘mandate’ has been used to destroy insti tutions and Rule of Law subverted to accuse the common man of sedition.

But none of this seem to bother non-BJP parties in the country. These parties are deeply divided even in their opposition to the BJP. Corruption, fear, blackmail or reluctance to sweat it out on the ground—whatever be the reason—many of them seem busy finding out who started the fire than putting out the fire first. Who facilitated the BJP appears a more important question for them to settle than how to stop the bull in the china shop.

Bengal provides a classic example. For ages city-centric Bengalis have boasted of the state being a secular and liberal bastion. They perpetuated the myth of Bengal being free of the communal virus. Had they bothered to step out of their comfort zone, they would have been shocked at the extent of communalism, casteism, superstition and misogyny that had taken roots in the state. The last six years have proved conducive for such regressive ‘aberrations’ to thrive.

Had they cared to listen, they would have overheard the man on the street ask, “Why should we worry about what is happening in Gujarat?” or “Muslims eat beef and that is why they are so hot-tempered and violent” or “why do our children have to sit with children of lower castes in school or eat food prepared by untouchables?”

Those who cared to see would have seen that politics in the state had come to depend on patronage. Political patronage was necessary to provide people with temporary relief in matters of livelihood and jobs, healthcare and housing, education and admissions. If growth and development, jobs and subsidies, grants and ration cards depended on the patronage of political leaders and political parties, what difference does it make if patrons change?

If political leaders in Bengal owing allegiance to secularism sincerely believed that BJP is a threat to Bengali ethos, they would have come together to fight it. They can surely see the fire and feel the heat. But rather than wasting their time in quarreling about who lit the fire and who was at fault, they would have got busy to put out the fire first. They will undoubtedly have plenty of time to fight each other.

(The writer is a Kolkata based commentator. The Bengali version of this piece appeared in Ananda Bazar Patrika first. Views are the author’s own)