“বাংলার মাটি দুর্জয় ঘাঁটি বুঝে নিক দুর্বৃত্ত”[1]
Introduction:
Bengal had always been a very important State in India in respect of culture and heritage. Bengal is often regarded to be the Cultural Capital of India. Apart from its culture and heritage, it is also one of the most important State in the Political Map of India. Since its inception till today, Bengal has been nurturing a catena of political leaders from different All India Parties as well as State-level parties. Through ages, many notable nation-level leaders have come up from Bengal.
The Beginning of the Jungle Raj in Bengal
The CPI(M) was in power in the State of West Bengal for the longest period i.e. for over 34 years. During these 34 years of rule by the Communists, most of the Opposition Parties were suppressed and they could not make the organization to overthrow the Communists from power. All the opposition parties including BJP were subjected to a huge amount of physical and mental violence by the CPI(M). It was in the year 2011, that the long 34 years of ruling of CPI(M) in Bengal ended and the All India Trinamool Congress came into power under the leadership of Smt. Mamata Banerjee, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal. As the Trinamool party came into power in West Bengal, the people of the State were in high hope that there would be an all-round development and employment throughout Bengal but within few weeks of coming into power, the people of West Bengal could feel that nothing better would happen to them. At that material point of time, there was practically no proper opposition party in West Bengal, since the CPI (M) had already lost their backbone and the Congress was at the verge of becoming a sign-board political party.
In the year of 2014, BJP won the General Election and Sri Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India. After the BJP came into power, the BJP workers in West Bengal got oxygen and they became so active that they started to organize and assemble for protests against the different policies taken up by the TMC government. Slowly and steadily BJP through their different wings established good organization throughout Bengal.
In 2019, General Election, the BJP again came into power with full majority and Sri Narendra Modi was again elected the Prime Minister of India. In this election, the BJP secured 18 seats in West Bengal and their vote percentage also increased in regard to the 2016 Assembly Elections which were held in the State of West Bengal. Such a huge mandate in favour of the BJP accelerated their organizational skills and they tried to reach out to more electorate people. As the BJP started to increase their work power and reach to more number of people, TMC workers started to ignite violence against those BJP workers and leaders working in the fields. The violence started to increase more and more. At the present time, TMC workers and often also few CPI(M) workers are found torturing the BJP workforce in order to suppress them in every manner whatsoever. In the recent past as the Assembly Election, 2021 is coming nearer, the rate and gravity of violence against the BJP workers are increasing day by day.
Violence and Killing of BJP workers
Almost two Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries lose their lives every month, allegedly at the hands of Trinamool Congress (TMC) cadre in West Bengal, in the 12-month period starting from 1 October 2018 till the end of this week (10 October).2019.[2]
On perusal of the media reports, published across multiple mediums including newspapers, news websites, news channels and also social media in the last two years, have reports in which the West Bengal BJP has claimed that thousands of individual who died were its worker.
As per The Sunday Guardian’s analysis, going by BJP’s claim that the newspaper was able to substantiate through media reports, at least 23 BJP functionaries and workers have died violent deaths across West Bengal since October last year. All of these deaths, the BJP has claimed, have been at the hands of TMC workers.
During the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2019 the party had invited family members of BJP workers, who, it claimed, were killed by TMC functionaries in the last two years. Family members of 32 BJP workers had attended the oath-taking ceremony.
On 28 September, BJP working president J.P. Nadda performed a “mass tarpan” at Bagbazar Ghat, Kolkata, for 82 party workers who lost their lives in political violence in West Bengal in the last few years. “Tarpan” is a Hindu ritual in which water is offered to ancestors with prayers for peace to the departed souls.
The Chronology of Killing of BJP Leaders[3]
i. On 22 October 2018, the body of BJP worker Tapas Bagdi, 33, was found hanging from a tree in Dwaraka village of Birbhum district. The BJP had claimed that he was killed by TMC cadre.
ii. On 9 December 2018, Sandip Ghosh was shot dead in Malandighi Anchal under Kanksha block of West Bengal’s Durgapur.
iii. On 28 March 2019, Twenty-eight-year-old Patanu Mondal, brother of Utpal Mondal, who was a BJP leader of the gram panchayat, was shot dead in Daulatpur in Malda district.
iv. On 18 April 2019, 22-year-old Shishu Pal Shahish, who was the son of a BJP member of the local gram panchayat and was associated with the BJP Youth Wing, was killed in Purulia district.
v. On 12 May, 2018, a BJP activist Ramin Singh, 30, who was a resident of Gopiballavpur, Jhargram constituency, was killed, allegedly by the TMC cadre.
vi. On 25 May, 2018 a 23-year-old BJP worker, Santu Ghosh, was shot dead in Chakdaha town of Nadia district.
vii. On 26 May, 2018, a BJP worker Chandan Shaw was killed in Bhatapara of North 24 Parganas district.
viii. On 30 May, 2018 Sushil Mondal, a BJP supporter, was killed in Pandugram, Burdwan.
ix. On 2 June, Ajay Mondol, a 36-year-old man, said to be a BJP worker, was stabbed to death in Baduria in North 24 Parganas district.
x. On 8 June 2018, the BJP in the State of West Bengal claims that it lost three of its men, Sukanta Mondal, Pradip Mondal and Shankar Mondal who were killed by the TMC cadre in the Nazat area of North 24 Parganas.
xi. On 9 June 2018, an RSS veteran Swadesh Manna was found hanging from a tree in Howrah which the BJP had said was a crime that was carried out by the TMC cadre.
xii. On 10 June, 2018, 43-year-old Samatul Doloi, who was a resident of Sarpota village, Amta Police Station, Howrah, too, was killed, allegedly by TMC cadre.
xiii. On 12 June, 2018, the body of 47-year-old Ashish Singh was found in Badhapukur, Malda. The BJP said that he was killed by the local TMC cadres.
xiv. On 18 June 2018 as per the BJP’s claim, it lost another of its workers, at the hands of the TMC cadre—30-year-old Ananda Paul, who was a resident of Velakpora in Tufanganj. His body was recovered from the Kanthal Tala area of West Bengal’s Cooch Behar.
xv. On 22 June, 2018 Gopal Chandra Pal, a BJP worker in Bishnupur, Bankura, was murdered allegedly by TMC workers.
xvi. On 7 July 2018, as per BJP leaders, one of their workers, 28-year-old Krishna Debnath, died at the NRS Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, two days after he was brutally beaten by a group of TMC cadre in Swarupganj village in Nabadwip bloc in Nadia district of West Bengal.
xvii. On 28 July,2018 Kashinath Ghosh, 45, a booth president of BJP was allegedly murdered in Arambagh town of Hooghly district in West Bengal.
xviii On 18 August 2018, Dalu Sheikh, a 50-year-old BJP worker died after the TMC cadre, as alleged by the BJP, hurled crude bombs at him in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
ix. On 7 September, 2018, Swarup Gorai, 55, was allegedly shot by the TMC cadre in the Nanoor area of Birbhum district in West Bengal.
BJP national working president JP Nadda had performed “tarpan” for “80 party workers”[4] who lost their lives in political violence in West Bengal in the past few years on the day of Mahalaya on September 28, 2019. The tarpan programme is a Hindu ritual to offer water to ancestors had highlighted the saffron camp’s narrative of widespread political violence in West Bengal where the part has made deep inroads in the last few years.
The Jungle Raj Increased Rapidly in the Year 2019
The Violence between the BJP and the TMC increased since the 2019 election results came out. Ongoing through the records of 2019 elections, it would be evident that the BJP had given neck to neck fight with the TMC in Bengal.
The Union Home Ministry in the month of June 2019 expressed its worry over “unabated violence over the past few weeks, which appeared to be a failure on the part of the law enforcement machinery of the state to maintain the rule of law”. It also “strongly advised” the state government to take all necessary measures to maintain law and order, and sought a detailed report as soon as possible.[5]
The clash on 8th June 2019 was the fourth such in the past 10 days. Violence in Burdwan and Cooch Behar had killed one BJP worker and one Trinamool worker, respectively, while in Kolkata, another Trinamool worker was shot dead.
“My husband and I fled in different directions. I went to the roof a neighbour’s house. My husband was chased by the men firing guns. I stood on the roof and watched. I saw my husband trying to hide,” Pradip Mondal’s wife continued.
Conclusion
The killing of BJP leaders mostly by the TMC cadres have evidently and remarkably increased in the last one year since the time from when the BJP has strengthened their organizations and have also become successful to build up a strong opposition in Bengal. After a huge victory in the General Elections, 2019 and grabbing 18 out of 42 seats in West Bengal, BJP workers regained their confidence and started to play the role of an opposition party in Bengal. Since 2019 till date, the violence against the BJP workers are seemingly increasing and thereby the State of West Bengal turning into a Jungle raj under the leadership of the TMC cadres.
References:
[1] Sukanta Bhattacharya
[2] Abhinandan Mishra (2019, October, 12) https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/2-bjp-workers-killed-every-month-bengal-one-year
[3] Abhinandan Mishra (2019, October, 12) https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/2-bjp-workers-killed-every-month-bengal-one-year
[4] PTI (2019, September, 28) https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/jp-nadda-to-perform-tarpan-for-80-bjp-workers-killed-in-bengal/1720231/
[5] Monideepa Banerjie(2019,June,9) https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/wife-of-bjp-worker-killed-in-west-bengal-violence-says-husband-was-shot-in-the-eye-by-trinamool-cong-2050561
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