The Shame of Bengal

The region of Bengal has been at one of the most forward thinking areas of the Indian subcontinent. It gave birth to various philosophers, reformers, and revolutionaries during the British Raj as well as the Indian Independence movement. But things started shifting as Bengal suffered heavily from British imperialism and subsequently partition.

Bengal was separated by a bloody partition into West Bengal (India) and East Pakistan. In 1971, a civil war broke out between West Pakistan and East Pakistan. West Bengal was swarmed with refugees causing India to intervene and decisively defeat Pakistan and liberate East Pakistan – birthing the new nation of Bangladesh.

Red Terror

But for this story, we will focus on West Bengal. While Bangladesh was being born, West Bengal fell into the control of communists. These communists enacted policies that would exacerbate the damages of the British colonialism, which destroyed Bengal. Even as recent as 2007, 11% of families in West Bengal faced starvation – a grim callback to the Churchill engineered Bengal Famine. In addition to economic policies, the communists would make it a point to destroy as much of West Bengal’s Hindu heritage as possible. Media and academia were the chosen mediums.

For them, Communism had become the one true religion, and Marx was the one true God.

Communist rule in West Bengal took a page out of the manual of communist dictatorship. Communist cadres would brutally oppress the populace with violence reminiscent of their beloved flag. Loyalists would be rewarded with “redistributed” land and wealth, while dissenters would meet the hammer and sickle. Spies were recruited to keep localities in check and booth capturing was common place come election time. Does any of this sound familiar?

The Bengali Tigress

Mamata Banerjee grew up in this environment and faced it head on. Her skull was cracked open protesting against the CPM, and she earned a reputation as a “street fighter” in Bengal. She would end up leading the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) to topple the 35 year reign of the communists in 2011. Mamata attained victory with a “fight fire with fire” type of mentality. However, she would soon burn with the same flames that she sought to extinguish.

During her earlier rebellious years, Mamata fought tooth and nail against communist policies such as allowing Bangladeshi illegal immigration, appeasement politics, and the base brutality of the communists. With her rise, she would soon whole heartedly embrace these tactics to establish a solid vote bank among Bengali Muslims and calcify her control with violence. Luckily, she has not so much taken on the communist’s love for far-left economic ideals that crippled West Bengal for years.

Her strategy can be summarized in general by:

• Minority Appeasement
• Abuse of Federalism
• Control by Violence

In many ways, Mamata has outdone the communists in their transgressions.

Some Are More Equal Than Others

Bengal is deep seated in the indigenous Dharmic traditions of India. Hindu Epics mention the land frequently and Buddha preached around the western half of Bengal. Great Hindu reformers such as Vivekanand, Paramhansa Yogananda, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, etc… formed the bedrock of the Bengali Renaissance – a movement that rapidly progressed Bengal culturally, artistically, and scientifically in the 19th century. Prior to that, Islamic rule had a profound effect on Bengal as many converted due to missionaries, coercion, and unfortunate violence. With the partition, old wounds were reopened, and the state was divided along religious lines.

However, at the end of the day – the people were distinctly Bengali. Bangladeshis had been horribly discriminated against and killed during their unity with Pakistan simply because West Pakistanis viewed Bengali culture as inferior and “Hindu.” Therefore unity naturally developed amongst Bengalis across the borders. Bangladeshis started to migrate to West Bengal in search of work and better opportunities. Culturally, it was easy as many of the traditions, language, and mannerisms were the same.

Unfortunately, identities clash and old Hindu-Muslim tensions started to arise.

Now here’s a common theme amongst Left or “secular” parties in India that you’ll see happen in West Bengal:

1. Consolidate a minority vote by fear-mongering and/or appeasement (Cash doles to religious places/schools/reservations)
2. Divide Hindus by caste/regional/ethnic differences
3. With a combined vote share of minorities + certain aggrieved Hindu castes, victory is assured
4. Solidify victory by investing through appeasement/favoritism for your vote share groups

Divide and rule has been perfected in India. The British Raj would be proud.

But let’s get to the meat of the issue. Heres a list of the minority appeasement laid out by Mamata Banerjee:

• Cash grants to mosques, madrassas, and imams (while giving less or none to Hindu equivalents)
• Blocking or delaying of Hindu festivals (the Durga Puja being the most prominent recently) to allow Islamic festivals to be celebrated
• Blind eye and even accusations of encouragement of illegal Bangladeshi immigration to grow her vote bank

This is a pure mockery of secularism. Hindus and Muslims should be treated equally by the government. Hindus and Muslims should celebrate festivals together in peace and merriment.

Ideally Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, etc… should all live in harmony and togetherness with equal laws and equal treatment by the state. But minority appeasement is an institutional foundation that encourages enmity between groups. It is a root cause of communal tension and something that has been the roti and sabzi of Left parties in India.

Now the last point of illegal immigration leads us to another plank of Mamata’s strategy – Bengali Chauvinism.

Bengali Chauvinism

Mamata Banerjee has cleverly made an undercurrent of hyper-Bengali pride attached to herself. She projects herself has a protector of Bengali interests versus the “fascist” central Indian state that seeks to undermine and dilute Bengali culture.

While there is nothing wrong with being proud of one’s region/state in India, it is a frequent strategy of regional leaders to stoke antipathy towards foreigners in their state. The combination of regional pride + socialist measures has proved a powerful bulwark against large central parties like the BJP and Congress.

Mamata emphasizes Bengali-ness over everything else in her blind eye towards Bangladeshi immigration. She holds West Bengal as a bastion of “secularism” even though it has seen frequent communal incidents during her rule.

But beyond this regional pride, lies something more sinister – a brazen abuse of federalism.

India’s federalism is arguably one of the most balanced systems. State governments can refuse central programs and have large amounts of autonomy. However Mamata has crossed the lines of this autonomy recently.

While the central government has sought to curb illegal immigration, Mamata has encouraged it. She has even refused citizenship registries to track these illegals and deemed it as an attack on Bengali pride. Her attacks have extended to other states such a Assam and Tripura where illegal Bangladeshi immigration has changed the traditionally tribal demographics of the state. Mamata has criticized both of these states for trying to maintain their fragile traditions and culture against a broken faucet of immigration from Bangladesh.

When the BJP tried to launch political campaigns in Bengal, Mamata Banerjee blocked their “rath yatra” and even helicopter transport for the Uttar Pradesh CM. Imagine a Republican governor blocking Democratic campaigning in the USA and the subsequent and rightful outrage to follow it.

Even worse was when the central government sent agents to investigate the Saradha scam of West Bengal. Mamata brazenly used her state forces to block CBI agents from investigating and obtaining documents related to her TMC cohorts. The CBI deemed this as a “constitutional anarchy” and gross abuse of power. Again, Mamata Banerjee sought the refuge of federalism and Bengali pride.

But of course, this brutish use of state machinery to fulfill political aims doesn’t just end at the offices; it occurs right at the doorstep of many Bengalis – through violence.

Trial By One Way Combat

I criticize the Western media’s coverage of India frequently. But this may be the trend that disgusts me the most. Outlets such as the BBC, Washington Post, New York Times, etc… have maintained more or less pin-drop silence over the outright and brutal violence that Mamata Banerjee has unleashed on West Bengal.

Even worse, this is all part of a broad trend of violence amongst left/secular parties in India as Left-Wing Terror is the leading cause of terrorism in India.

In the first few phases of the Indian Elections, the TMC has lynched BJP workers, stopped Hindus from casting votes, and captured polling booths to make sure the citizens vote for TMC. This is all part of a congruent mentality that has gripped Bengal since the communist era. Mamata is carrying on the tradition.

Her rule in Bengal has seen scores of BJP workers and associates murdered, raped, and assaulted with virtual silence from the international mainstream media. Images and videos of TMC violence have leaked onto social media during her rule to showcase the brutality that BJP party members face regularly.

How can India call itself the world’s largest democracy when such thuggery is abundant in its 4th largest state? How can the media be silent on this outlandish mockery of democracy? Even central institutions such as the Election Commission of India have been twiddling their thumbs on the rampant abuses of polling while reducing their duty to banning movies and censuring communal remarks post facto.

Non-TMC parties face an uphill battle in West Bengal. State machinery and media apathy provide large obstacles in the mission of democracy. However, there are hushed undertones of a saffron surge in Bengal. Modi’s rallies have attracted colossal crowds and some say the winds of change blow in Bengal.

Till then we must expose the tyranny of Mamata Banerjee and the Shame of Bengal.