BJP-Trinamool turf war turns communal in Bengal’s Nakasipara

Post-Independence political violence between Congress and the Left as well as Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Left in recent decades that vitiated the social life of West Bengal had hardly ever taken a religious turn. But today, the aggressive designs of the Modi-fied BJP to bag Bengal by consolidating Hindu vote bank and the ruling TMC’s myopic politics of treating Muslims as a vote bank are making communal violence a norm rather an exception in the state which has survived Partition horrors.

Nakasipara in Nadia district bordering Bangladesh is the latest communal flashpoint. Even school children have become the pawns of the sectarian conflict.

On September 15, communal clashes were reported from several villages in the mixed population area of Nakasipara and neighboring Palasipara. It led to defiling of religious places of Hindus and Muslims as well as mutual attacks and injuries and destruction and damage to properties. Police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) have been pushed into action and they have contained the riot for now. But tension was palpable even after a week when this reporter visited the affected villages. The prohibitive order preventing assembly of more than five people has been continued while police pickets and patrols are still in place.

The clash was triggered by tussles between adolescent students of two neighboring villages in Nakasipara, the Hindu-dominated Patikabari and Muslim-dominated Changya. The students of Patikabari Higher Secondary School come from both communities. But thanks to the bigoted elders, the usual fight among adolescent boys over sitting arrangement in class took a communal hue as they marked their seats with the war-cries of the BJP and Sangh, Jai Sri Ram. The Muslims shot back with Allah Hu Akbar.

On September 13, the brawl ended with the teachers’ intervention but resumed next day following alleged thrashing of three Hindu boys on a village road close to Changya. The clash took uglier turn involving youth from both villages, resulting in mutual complaints to police and arrests.

On September 15, all hell broke loose when some beef pieces were found in front of some Patikabari temples and near the school in the late morning. Patikabari men informed police and blamed their Changya neighbours for the mischief which the latter denied. Police came and removed the meat offensive to the Hindus and assured action. Not satisfied, Hindus marched to Nakasipara police station demanding arrests of the Changya Muslims.

According to Changya’s residents and local police officials, the Hindus raised anti-Muslim slogans on their way back and allegedly damaged a roadside mosque, following provocations from local BJP and Hindu Jagaran Manch leaders who had accompanied them. They also ransacked three shops owned by Muslims. The Changya Muslims assaulted their Hindu neighbours, some of them fatally. Soon, violence spread to Toibichara, Kalibhas, Brajapur, Dhananjoypur and some other villages as news and rumors of attacks spread.

The police and RAF crackdown started in the late evening. The cops came under attacks, mainly from the Hindus as they complained of one-sided highhandedness and arrests. The number of arrests on the day of our visit – 31 in all with just eight Muslims – will definitely add to the glee of the Sangh Parivar. “Mamata Banerjee government has completely sided with the Muslims. We faced the RAF’s wrath while our boys are being arrested. I was with the CPIM earlier and later shifted to the Congress. Now I will join BJP and fight to save Hindu honour,” said Ajit Roy, a middle-aged day-labourer in Patikabari. A lot of people from different age groups who had gathered around echoed his sentiment.

The Patikabari panchayat is TMC controlled but BJP as well as the CPIM and the Congress, too, have their presence though Mamata’s traditional opposition have lost their sheen and strength, both at the micro and macro level. Brittish allias Krisna Mazumdar, local panchayat pradhan and TMC strongman, had led the marchers to ‘express the Hindu sentiments across the political divide’. The local TMC MLA, Kollol Khan, however, later chided him for joining the BJP men. “The MLA did not visit us but blamed Hindus for the trouble while meeting his party men,” Pradip Majumdar, another BJP supporter said. Changya is more TMC-dominated now.

Khan and other TMC leaders blamed the BJP for inciting Hindus. Incidentally, The saffron party has gained ground here since it won the Krishnanagar parliamentary constituency that includes the affected areas with TMC support during the AB Vajpayee-led NDA regime. The friend-turned foes are now vying for polarisation before the panchayat polls which is round the corner. The TMC insiders admitted that factional fights within the party over college election and other issues also contributed to the build-up of communal tension.