How Mamata benefits from Bengal turning a communal hell hole

Bihar may be witnessing a return of violence, though sporadic at present, but it is West Bengal in fact which has slipped into "jungle raj" ahead of the Assembly elections slated to be held this summer. No ruling party would like lawlessness to reign supreme in its state, that too just before elections. But the Mamata Banerjee government is seen to be turning a blind eye to it. Reason: The situation is of its own making and it suits the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Several incidents of violence have taken place in the last ten days alone. The most ferocious one occurred on January 3 following a massive protest rally by Muslim groups under the banner of one Idara-e-Shariya against right wing leader Kamlesh Tiwari who had made some derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad not recently, but about a month ago. Armed with tall green flags, the furious crowd torched over two dozen police vehicles, including one belonging to Border Security Force (BSF) and another a state road transport bus, and ransacked Malda's Kaliachak police station. They destroyed all criminal records in files and computers after chasing away all policemen from the police station and barracks. The crowd went on a rampage at Muslim-dominated Sujapur area in the district, attacked the BDO's office at Kaliachak and even looted some houses belonging to Hindus.

Ten people - Motiur Rahman, Jabdul Seikh, Sinnat Seikh, Gaffar Seikh, Ekhlasur Rahman, Benamin Seikh, Lalu Momin, Md Ashadul Haque, Farooque Seikh and Md Rashidul Haque - have been arrested and the local administration believes that anti-national elements had masterminded the attack which was pre-planned. The Centre has demanded a report from the TMC government in the state and Union home minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to visit Malda on January 18.

The questions here are: What were the local intelligence and administration doing to avert such an incident? Why did the local police allow the unruly crowd to unleash terror for several hours?

The BJP has blamed Mamata's politics of Muslim appeasement to be responsible for the incident, while the Congress and Left leaders have accused the ruling TMC of patronising criminal elements. The allegations are not off the mark. Mamata has taken several decisions in a bid to woo the Muslims, who constitute 30 per cent of the population and play a decisive role in about 125 of the 294 Assembly seats in the state. One among them is the allowance of Rs 2,500 for each imam and a stipend of Rs 1,500 to each muezzin.

Having proved to be a complete failure on development and governance fronts, Mamata is now banking upon the Muslim factor and criminal elements to retain power in the state. And her gamble may even prove successful in the end. But the Kaliachak incident is a pointer towards the lawlessness prevailing in West Bengal and the state government's failure to contain anti-national activities such as smuggling in of fake Indian currency notes and illegal poppy cultivation.

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The Kaliachak rampage is not the only incident which points towards the jungle raj arising out of Muslim appeasement policy of the state government. In a highly anti-national matter, fatwa has been issued against a Muslim teacher Kazi Masum Akhtar of Talpukur Aara High Madarsa in Kolkata for teaching National Anthem to students for Republic Day. He had been assaulted by maulanas and their followers, who allegedly are ISIS sympathisers, in March 2015. Despite appealing to Mamata and the chairman of state minorities' commission six times, he has not found any assurance. What can be more seditious than the maulvis terming the National Anthem as a sacrilege and a Hindutva song.

Appearing as if it is happening in some part of an Islamic country, Akhtar has been banned from entering the school unless he wears the traditional Muslim attire of kurta, short pyjamas and grows a beard, the length of which would be decided by the madarsa's maulanas. Ridiculously, he has also been asked to send them photos each week (unmindful of the fact that photos in themselves are un-Islamic), to examine the progress of his beard's growth. They claimed that it was anti-Islamic to sing the "Hindu" national anthem and hoisting the Tri-colour in an Islamic teaching institution. The state of affairs can be gauged from the local police's helplessness in providing security to the progressive Muslim teacher, who is also despised by the maulvis for encouraging girls' education.

In another incident in Malda district, two persons - identified as Niloo Sheikh and Faizul Sheikh - were killed and two others - Nabi Sheikh and Injajul Alam - were injured when the bomb they were making exploded on December 28. According to the police, one of the injured is a relative of Nafozul Alam, a zonal president of TMC.

As the politics of the state has got highly communalised and the ruling TMC is out to reap its rich dividends, party's Lok Sabha MP from Basirhat, Idris Ali, went to the extent of accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having links with Pakistani terrorists. At the peak of Pathankot operations to neutralise terrorists, Ali said in a public meeting: "I believe PM Modi has links with terrorists which is why Pathankot attack took place. Why did the attack happen right after his visit to Pakistan? This is my personal opinion." Idris' idiotic statement surpasses the ridiculous remarks of someone like Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan.

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The lawless mindset of TMC leaders is also reflected in opening of fire by a Malda village council chief Pabitra Roy, allegedly killing two persons on December 27. Roy's vehicle had hit a cyclist after which a mob had gathered. He shot from inside his car on the mob while trying to flee the scene of an accident.

The Assembly elections are still far away. As per the current trend, the law and order situation is likely to deteriorate and the unbridled communal atmosphere is certainly to get more vitiated as the elections draw closer. While jungle raj has got popular in the context of Bihar following Patna high court's observation, an undeclared jungle raj is already reining supreme in West Bengal.