Kolkata, Mar 2 (PTI) With the stage set for high-
octane polls in West Bengal, key stakeholders here asserted
that the state, in a departure from the tradition, will be
witnessing a communally charged election this time, largely
driven by identity politics.
Bengal, where the electoral discourse has mostly
steered clear of divisive agenda, has been drawn into the
vortex with the TMC and the BJP accusing each other of fanning
communal sentiments ahead of elections.
The entry of the newly formed Indian Secular Front
(ISF) led by Abbas Siddiqui, who became the first religious
leader in West Bengal to take the plunge into politics, has,
however, upturned several political equations, propelling the
campaign of religious identity-based politics in the state.
“This time, assembly elections will be different from
the ones we have witnessed since independence. The BJP has
long been trying to create divisions among the communities.
But we will fight against it and work to unite people,” senior
TMC leader and MP Sougata Roy said.
The saffron leadership, too, agreed that communal
polarisation was on the rise in the state, but blamed
appeasement politics by the TMC for its upsurge.
“For us, the election plank happens to be ”development
for all”. That said, appeasement politics and injustice
towards the state”s majority community by the TMC government
has indeed led to communal polarisation in Bengal,” BJP state
president Dilip Ghosh said.
Echoing him, BJP leader Tathagata Roy said Partition
scars and the upswing of Muslim identity politics in Bengal
have deepened the communal fault-lines.
The opposition Congress, on its part, trained guns on
both the TMC and the BJP for fomenting divisive politics — a
practice almost alien to the state”s political landscape.
CPI (M) politburo member Mohammed Salim, however,
stressed that the narrative wouldn”t yield any result as
masses are “fed up with the misrule” of the TMC and the BJP at
the state and the Centre respectively.
“Had communal narrative been at play in the past
(during CPI-M rule), people would have seen saffron camp and
other fundamentalist forces gaining ground back then. But that
was not the case. True, this time parties are playing the
communal card, but issues concerning common people such as
fuel price hike, corruption and unemployment will negate its
influence to a large extent,” he said.
Elections in Bengal, poised to be a stiff contest
between the TMC and the BJP, will be held in eight phases,
beginning with polling for 30 seats on March 27. Votes will be
counted on May 2.
Since Independence, polls in the state, which boasts
of being the cradle of the Indian renaissance, have always
been fought along ideological lines, with matters related to
government policies, unemployment and food security taking
centre stage.
Sources in the BJP claimed that the TMC government”s
failure to control communal riots over the last six years has
angered not just a section of the minorities, but also those
belonging to the majority community.
According to the data released by the Union home
ministry in 2018, communal violence increased sharply since
2015 in West Bengal.
Although opposition parties pinned the blame on the
TMC for this surge in religious fervour in the state, which
has 30 per cent Muslim electorate, a quick look at Bengal”s
socio-political history will reflect how communalism has
always had an impact on the state”s political culture, with
hundreds of people having borne the brunt of riots in 1946-47.
Both the Hindu right and fringe Muslim outfits had
wielded considerable influence in violence-hit West Bengal in
the aftermath of Partition, before waning considerably over
the years.
During the first assembly polls in 1952, the Hindu
Mahasabha, along with Bharatiya Jana Sangh, had won 13 seats
and garnered around eight per cent of the total votes.
Later, Jana Sangh”s influence ebbed, as it ended up
with only one seat in 1967 and 1971.
Similarly, Muslim outfits such as the Progressive
Muslim League (PML) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)
had established its presence in pockets, with the PML winning
three seats in 1969 assembly polls, and IUML bagging a single
seat during 1972 and 1977 assembly polls.
“Although parties like the IUML, PML and the Bharatiya
Jana Sangh managed to bag a few seats till the seventies, poll
campaigns did not bank on communal narrative. Development
issues and anti-state or anti-Centre plank always took
precedence,” veteran Congress leader Abdul Mannan Said.
During the early sixties, however, the rise of the
Left parties, who fought for the rights of refugees from
Bangladesh, ended the consolidation of rightwing forces in the
state.
Noted Historian Sugata Bose contended that refugees
from Bangladesh felt cheated both by the Congress and the
Hindu Mahasabha when the country endured Partition, and they
took solace in the Left”s fold.
“Refugees from Bangladesh and Bengali Muslims were
more aligned to the Left. Therefore, the communal rhetoric
never gained momentum in Bengal. The state never witnessed
such divisive politics as is the practice now,” Bose, Gardiner
Professor of oceanic history at Harvard University, told PTI.
Poll observers believe that the Left had been able to
maintain a balance between communities, a practice that the
TMC could not hold on to.
“Bengal always had the ingredients fit for polarising
its society. Not just the state”s high minority population,
the influx of refugees from Bangladesh — both during 1947
Partition and 1971 Liberation war – have also been a major
factor,” political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said.
The politically crucial Matuas and Namashudras, who
had fled from Bangladesh due to religious persecution, voted
for the Left for decades, before shifting lock stock and
barrel to the BJP during the last Lok Sabha polls, following
the promise of citizenship under a newly amended law.
The TMC feels the ISF”s entry into Bengal”s poll arena
will further deepen the divide and help the BJP by eating into
the ruling party”s Muslim vote base.
“The ISF may not win seats but will widen the communal
divide further. It could cause harm to the TMC by cutting into
our Muslim votes and further pushing the Hindus towards the
BJP,” a senior leader of the Mamata Banerjee camp said.
BJP leader Tathagatha Roy said the assertion of Muslim
identity in Bengal politics, a comparatively new concept for
the present generation, will consolidate Hindu votes.
Siddiqui, however, denied the allegations and said he
has entered politics to fight for the rights of the minorities
and backward communities, a cause which the mainstream
political parties have neglected so far.
The BJP, apart from the development plank, has been
harping on the issue of illegal immigration and the promise of
citizenship to refugees, whereas the TMC has been largely
focusing on the insider-outsider debate to take on the saffron
camp. PTI PNT
RMS RMS
Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI
