Bashirhat in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal has recently come into limelight for the ‘riots’ that erupted there over an offensive cartoon that was posted on Facebook by a Hindu resident of Baduria village named Souvik Sarkar. A lot has been written about this, but all including facts and rumours served to reinforce stereotypes of Muslims as religious fanatics and as riot-mongers. This piece is based on a fact finding done by this author, Sukriti Ranjan Biswas and Ananta Acharya of Samya Shanti o Sampriti Manch – a Dalit-Muslim solidarity front that was launched on 13th May this year at a meeting held in the Calcutta Buddhist Temple. I place here, facts, rumours, half-truths and interpretations of this recent conflict and contextualise them for an explanation of what happened there and why.
Being a district along the Indo-Bangladesh border, North 24 Parganas, in particular Muslim majority Bashirhat has come to occupy in the Bengali Hindu imagination as a place which is occupied by Muslim infiltrators from Bangladesh bent on creating security issues for India. Yet both Muslim and Hindu residents of Bashirhat we talked to have claimed that communal harmony has been largely maintained here in the past. But in this incident the older generation people from both the communities stated that they could not control the younger generation: those who participated in vandalism and violence all belonged, with a few exceptions, to the age group of 18-22 years.
Polarisation
Because of the distrust generated for and in minorities there has been an increasing polarisation between the two communities. This became clear to us during our visit to Bashirhat. Muslim leaders both there and in Kolkata told us that to some extent, a few religious leaders too were responsible for such incidents. They informed us how in the past and the present some religious leaders gave speeches that intentionally or unintentionally served the purposes of polarisation. This was also the view of a sizeable number of local Muslim residents we spoke with in Bashirhat. Such leaders and residents further discussed with us how communal tensions are not what Muslims want and how creating hatred for others is un-Islamic. They underscored the reluctance of the polarised Indian society to accept such views on communal harmony held by the Muslims. For such a reluctant society, they feel that at least government statistics would show that Muslims want to live in peace. Hinting at the statistics of Muslims as worst sufferers in all communal violence, they underlined the need for non-Muslims and communally charged Muslim leaders to realise that majority of Muslims detest and reject communal violence. The parallel fanning of communalization happening due to incendiary speeches of a few religious Muslim leaders has been acknowledged by the Jamaat, other leaders and residents we spoke with. We (the author and members of the fact finding team), however, want to make a qualification with regard to this acknowledgement of parallel fanning of communalisation by some Muslim leaders. Even when such communalisation occurs, its scale in terms of its spread and the intensity of its effects cannot in any way be compared with that of Hindu communalism.
Muslim leaders like Quamruzzaman and Abdul Matin asserted that it is the lack of education both in Islamic values and the Indian Constitution that have propelled Muslims from this age-group into such action. According to them these boys have not passed school, are unemployed but have Jio 4G mobile network and thus have access to online inflammatory materials over which these leaders have no actual control. Quamruzzaman pointed out that these boys then easily fall prey to the dangerous communal designs in which the Muslim minority is always the worst hit. Seeing administrative inaction these leaders and other Muslim residents in Bashirhat took immediate steps to control the mob but failed in their effort in some areas where the Muslims were in a minority.On the flip side, Hindu Samhati leaders have urged Hindus to ‘rise up’ and teach the Muslims a lesson. A peep into Hindu Samhati leader Tapan Ghosh’s posts on Facebook leaves us in no doubt about the real intentions of Hindutva groups. No wonder Tapan Ghosh hailed the Hindus of Bashirhat for showing the rest of Bengal the way to fight ‘Islamisation’ and ‘Islamic terror’. Lack of timely and effective action from the local administration and the police force also account for the continuation of mob violence. But clearly Muslim leaders did not seem to have any power over the Muslim mob in some places and that has baffled them. In this episode of violence Abdul Matin made an important point that initially the violence did not take the shape of a communal one. It was not a Hindu versus Muslim violence rather one of protestors versus police violence. But soon it took the form of communal clashes. Quamruzzaman noted (a point I mentioned above in passing) that the violence and the rioting mob could still be controlled in Muslim majority blocks of Bashirhat by Muslim leaders and residents but the violence could not be contained in Hindu majority blocks. This raises the question of a larger Hindutva conspiracy of keeping the violence alive. Hindutva groups succeeded best in Hindu majority blocks by forcing a sense of siege among the minority in those areas by rioting against Muslims. The last decade has seen a rise in the cadres of Hindu Samhati and such organisations. Arathayatra fair held near Bhyabla Kali temple created ideal conditions for the spread of rumour and mob violence. A rumour that there was an immense possibility of an attack on the Kali Temple helped in instigating the Hindu crowd into anti-Muslim actions.
Yet, the communalised, indeed the Hinduised common sense of Bengali society sees Hindu violence and such calls only as a response to Muslim ‘Jihadi’ politics. In this Hinduised common sense some events and aspects have become marginal to making sense of the Bashirhat violence. I shall place here some of these unknown or lesser known aspects. We came across these from local inhabitants and reporters most of whom spoke to us on conditions of anonymity. First I shall devote some space to discuss the facts of the events leading to the riots in Baduria-Bashirhat, for these belie all the reports we have so far received from media.
‘Invisible’ events: Origins of the riot and more
Event 1: How did the Baduria ‘riot’ take place? A local reporter associated with TimesBangla.in with whom I spoke on two occasions had minutely covered the disturbances from day one. Of the detailed report that he provided me with, I mention only a few aspects because of lack of space. On 3rd July Muslim protestors put up a barricade and were protesting peacefully demanding action from administration against Souvik Sarkar. The provocation came from the RSS in Saystanagar which is an RSS belt. This provocation triggered the protest to take violent forms. An arrow shot from one of the Hindu shops (most of which are owned by Dalit Bengali refugees) hit a Muslim on his arm. Incited by this violent attack, the protestors went berserk and vandalised that shop. The tussle led to vandalising of two more shops when neighbouring shop-owners came to the defence of the instigator who shot the arrow. The violence had taken its form and it spread to the next day. Muslim shops were razed to the ground the next day. In this spiralling of violence a 74 year old Muezzin of Bashirhat mosque was beaten up mercilessly by the Hindus and a Muslim man was hacked to death on Bashirhat bridge. In spate of the violence which followed a mosque was vandalised and a temple was attacked in retaliation. A mentally unstable Muslim beggar named Mohsin Ghazi from neighbouring Anantapur village claimed that he was attacked in Rajib Colony near Bashirhat station when he went there begging for alms on 4th July. He was taken to R. G. Kar Hospital Kolkata and is battling for his life. Six Muslim men are in critical condition in SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. The roots of the Baduria riot had its origins in the violence that Hindus initiated in Saystanagar. In a perfect Gujarat-style politics the RSS has succeeded in bringing under its umbrella Bengali dalit refugees of Bashirhat. Muslims were hounded out of their homes, their shops and homes destroyed, many injured and a few killed and it became difficult for them to find safe shelters in many places.
Event 2: Within 24 hours of the outbreak of violence, Muslim policemen holding the ranks of Sub-Inspector, Assistant Sub-Inspector, or Habildar were ‘benched’: they were either sent on forced leave or not assigned any responsibility/orders to contain the violence. This happened in Bashirhat and Barasat sub-divisions and partly in Bonga sub-division.
Event 3: A friend of ours who is a doctor and who was once associated with the Government Hospital at Bashirhat confirmed our fears about some rumours (rather facts) about Muslim youths missing within a few days of the outbreak of violence at Baduria. We heard that three Muslim youth went missing. Rabiul Islam, who teaches in St. Xavier’s College and is a resident of Bashirhat says that family members of two missing youths filed complaints with the police but they are unaware whether the police registered their complaint as a General Diary or as an FIR. Those two victims were from two different villages, Bagundi and Dandirhat both of which fall under the jurisdiction of Bashirhat Police Station. A Hindu friend of the reporter Mizanur Rahman informed him that one of the youths who was missing from Dandirhat was killed and his body was taken to some unknown place.It was confirmed by Rabiul Islam too. We requested the doctor referred to above to find out if there were any unclaimed bodies in the morgue at Bashirhat Government Hospital. He personally went there and found that three unclaimed bodies were lying in the morgue. He checked and found that all the three youths were circumcised (an indication of their ‘Muslimness’). According to the police diary entries that he checked, these bodies arrived at the morgue on 6th July. When some local media persons went to the hospital, the Medical Superintendent refused to shed any light on this matter stating that he did not have the necessary permission to talk about this. Three days back we learnt that the bodies have been shifted to the morgue at RG Kar Hospital in Calcutta as the one at Bashirhatis not advanced enough to preserve dead bodies for longer duration. Today we came across an unconfirmed report that another reason for shifting these bodies to Kolkata was because some media persons were ‘harassing’ the police for information.
Event 4: Some two weeks before the outbreak of violence few people from outside Bashirhat came and stayed in the local lodges particularly the corporate guest houses in Bashirhat town. They registered themselves in Hindu non-Bengali names. Was their presence merely coincidental?
Event 5: The incidents surrounding the attack on Kartick Ghosh and his subsequent death have almost taken legendary proportions. From media reports available we learn that Ghosh – a poor man who earned a living by selling dead chicken etc. was brutally attacked by a Muslim mob near Bhyabla gate while he was conversing with his friend Fazlul Sardar. When Sardar tried to save Ghosh he too was attacked. Both were taken to the hospital by the locals but Ghosh did not survive. The magnanimity of Ghosh’s son gets highlighted as how despite this major tragedy he still visits Sardar and enquires about his health and needs. Locals, refugee and non-refugee, upper caste and Dalit, involved with restoring peace also underscored the event of Ghosh’s death and placed great value on his son’s good actions. But the facts seem to tell us another story behind Ghosh’s death which did not find its way into the media. The Economic Times on 7th July 2017 while reporting the death of Ghosh stated that he was a local RSS-BJP worker. An article on Scroll (July 6, 2017) citing Hindustan Times reported that Ghosh was returning home from the market when he was attacked by a Muslim mob. News18.com gives us more delightful stories about this attack where Ghosh is painted as an innocent RSS victim.But these are far from the truth. Kartick Ghosh was a part of the RSS-Hindu Samhati mob that went on a rampage in the suburbs of Bashirhat vandalising shop-cum-living quarters and Muslim homes. An angry mob pursued Ghosh who after vandalising 21 such shops (19 of which belonged to Muslims) came back to his village Bhyabla. When that mob reached Bhyabla, a peace procession was also heading towards Bhyabla Gate from the opposite direction. The people in the procession witnessed this murder and some confrontation occurred between them and the mob. Ghosh was with his friend Fazlul Sardar when he was attacked. Sardar was attacked too while saving his friend Kartick Ghosh. Locals speaking on conditions of anonymity and Rabiul Islam gave us the details of this unknown part of the Ghosh murder.
Event6: Finally, Rabiul Islam informed me that of late the police israndomly arresting only Muslims from Bashirhat and falsely charging each of them under various sections of IPC. Rabiul Islam is involved in providing legal help to several such Muslims arrested on false charges from his village.
Hinduised common sense
These events I mentioned above point towards the larger phenomenon of normalisation of majoritarian violence. Our Hinduised common sense renders invisible acts of aggression by Hindus that forced Muslims to retaliate as in the case of Kartick Ghosh’s murder and the murder of three Muslim youths whose bodies remained unclaimed in the Bashirhat morgue. The marks of injury on these bodies prove that the attacks on them took place from behind, there was no face-to-face action: two of the bodies have long and deep marks on the back left by either iron rods or bamboo sticks, one body has a hole on the back made by a bullet. The same common sense creates moral panic among Hindus about their Muslim neighbours and around the very idea of the ‘Muslim’. In the context of an area home to the refugees (mostly Dalit) from Bangladesh allegedly fleeing religious persecution such moral panic finds a fertile ground for its growth. Dalit refugees we interacted with point out their fear of becoming refugees again. This fear reaps a good harvest for Hindutva politics.A Dalit refugee associated with the Matua sect, Samudra Biswas whom I interviewed told me very perceptibly that the resistance, which Dalit refugees along with local Muslims had put up against the Muslim mob and Muslim outsiders has been rendered a ‘Hindu’ resistance because of the success of Hindutva. He pointed out that local upper castes have been most secure and only Dalits were the so-called Hindu victims of the violence. Stating that although upper castes had hardly participated in resistance these same upper castes handed over the weapons used at Ram Navami procession to dalit refugees. Yet, Biswas also glorified Probashish Ghosh’s (son of Kartick Ghosh) actions, condemned Ghosh’s murder as senseless and unprovoked and as the biggest tragic incident in this violent episode; and remained non-committal about Ghosh’s involvement in RSS led violence. Admitting that he could not forget that he and other Dalits came to West Bengal because of Muslim violence, he asserted that he was still working for communal harmony in Bashirhat. I think it is a reflection of the Hinduised common sense. This participation in such a Hinduised common sense, despite perceptive critiques of Hindutva politics is what makes ita shared one and aids in incorporating Dalits as ‘Hindus’.
Like Samudra Biswas another Dalit refugee Harashit Sarkar who accompanied us on our way back argued about Hindu-Muslim violence that reflected his anti-Muslim prejudice. On being contested by Sukriti Ranjan Biswas a refugee and a veteran leader of the Bengali Dalit refugee movement across India and Ananta Acharya a second generation refugee Sarkar claimed that all refugees came here because of Muslim rioting. Sukriti Biswas pointed out that communal rioting was not the only or the main reason for migration. As an instance Acharya then cited conflicts over agricultural lands that has led Hindus to migrate to West Bengal. Upper caste Hindus had migrated long ago. Many of those Dalits who owned some land or were middle peasants left for West Bengal fearing trouble when they had conflict with their Muslim landless labourers. This is not to state that Bangladesh does not exhibit different forms of Muslim communalism or that riots had not taken place there,but a large number of conflicts leading to migration were not communal, they were mostly economic or social conflicts.But they are interpreted as communal violence or even as riots. Acharya informed us that, since 1971 only two large-scale riots worth mentioning have taken place in Bhola (a large island) and in the Chattagram Hills in Bangladesh. In fact Acharya pointed out that Bengali Hindus were much respected and well-treated there as even small incidents would show. Recently a Hindu teacher was made to do sit-ups in a class by Muslim students in a college in Dhaka suburbs. A procession condemning this as taken out in which Muslims turned up in large numbers. But Harashit Sarkar held on to his position. West Bengali Hindus always see Bangladesh as a riot-prone zone. Sukriti Biswas explained that the power of anti-Muslim prejudice is not easy to overcome, for that to take place a sustained political education is necessary. In a conversation with a group of people in Kolkata recently, Sukriti Biswas noted a fact he came across many times in Dhaka and Jessore: how local Muslims defended local Hindus against slurs or rumours spread by West Bengali Muslim migrants to East Pakistan/Bangladesh; these local Muslims also warned these refugee Muslims against fomenting any trouble there. But these alternative perspectives are often brushed aside or challenged through a Hindutva lens.
Referring to the Geneva Camp in mofussil Dhaka Acharya described to me the humiliating treatment that is meted out to Urdu-speaking Muslims who were arrested by the new Bangladesh state on suspicion of being allies of Pakistan against the liberation war, 1971. Rendered homeless, facing arrest or even death the survivors were sent to the UN Geneva Camp. These Urdu speaking Muslims are only allowed to leave the area of the Camp on Fridays for two hours to offer the Friday Namaaz. Before leaving the Camp on Fridays they are required to wear anklets as marks of identification. As a part of understanding communalism and our history we need to realise that just as there are dominant or hegemonic narratives, there are also counter-narratives. A brief mention of cross migration is necessary here. Acharya during one of our discussions pointed out to this absence of any narrative of cross-migration: that of West Bengali Muslims to East Pakistan/Bangladesh. Through field surveys the organisation he belongs to DAFODWAM(Democratic Action Forum of Dalits, Women & Minorities), came across irrefutable evidence of such migrations in three phases: 1964, 1965 and 1971. These migrations undoubtedly took place under communally charged conditions in the border districts of North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Balurghat belt of Dinajpur and the Calcutta suburbs. 1964 was infamous for the Calcutta riots that had its effects into the border districts; 1965 was the year of India-Pakistan war and the environment was obviously communally charged; 1971 was the Bangladesh Liberation War where again a similar situation obtained. Indeed, Muslim suffering due to communalism has remained immensely under-documented and unrecognised.
Finally, one may not overlook the significant presence of Bharat Sevashram Sangha (BSS) in all districts of Bangladesh. One of my refugee respondents in an earlier research detailed to me the role of the BSS in ensuring that the remaining Hindus in Bangladesh could live with ‘honour’ as Hindus there and would not have to convert to Islam. An opinion has been manufactured that the BSS saved Hindus from becoming ‘extinct’ in Bangladesh else they would either have been forced to convert to Islam or would have had to live losing their ‘honour’ to the Muslims there. It was this manufactured fear of the ‘Muslim’ that the BSS and other Hindu organisations had whipped up and effectively used it to serve their Hindu upper caste politics in undivided Bengal since the early 20th century. It is this same moral panic that is being re-created now in West Bengal. Bashirhat might well be a mere tip of the iceberg.
