[The changing realities in Bengal. A close and hard look. Worth a careful read.
《If you want to calculate it, there is a simple way to measure the BJP’s rise in Bengal. From six per cent in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the BJP’s vote share hurtled past 17 per cent by 2014. Almost all of that 11 per cent gain has come from the CPI(M), which, in the same period, lost 13 per cent of its vote share. This trend, CPI(M)’s en bloc loss to the BJP, seems to have only continued since 2014. So much so that by 2016, the BJP clinched more than 28 per cent vote share in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha by-poll. For Mamata Banerjee, this straight transference of votes has meant a loss of trust in the CPI(M) vote base. In the panchayat elections, held in May 2018, the TMC’s response was the use of muscle power to keep the BJP out. What resulted was a poll marred by widespread violence, which led to two dozen deaths and allegations of largescale rigging. People still haven’t forgotten this and this has further helped the BJP. Sanaka Mazumdar, 36, from Bargachi, which falls on the border between the two districts Nadia and Bardhaman, says, “This time, all of us have voted for the BJP.” Mazumdar hails from a CPI(M) stronghold. “She [Mamata Banerjee] hurt our pride. If she had allowed us to vote in the panchayat elections, many of us would have chosen her because we’re actually quite happy with the work she has done. There is electricity in every home and the roads she has made are much better. We also get our payments on time. But because we are seen as a CPI(M) stronghold, she refused to trust us. So we have decided to teach her a lesson this time.” While the panchayat elections and the allegations of widespread local corruption by Trinamool Congress workers have aided the BJP’s prospects in Bengal this election, it does not quite elucidate the straight transference of votes from the Left to the Right that snowballed into BJP’s rise in West Bengal.》 (Excerpted from the post below.) Also look up: I. 'A new poriborton: Two villages provide a pointer to the emerging Hindutva politics in West Bengal' by Mukulika Banerjee at < https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/west-bengal-birbhum-mamata-banerjee-narebdra-modi-lok-sabha-elections-a-new-poriborton-5731809/?fbclid=IwAR1GQMPkbavdEUQWFw_2gOOtwkbWBK5OufU-mRcUGDko6XTeDToE279gb34 >. II. 'Strange shift: Bengal’s Left Front is melting away – into the BJP' by Shoaib Daniyal at < https://scroll.in/article/923128/strange-shift-bengals-left-front-is-melting-away-into-the-bjp?fbclid=IwAR17ZHUNNlDD5NMw3_67hhQB-BpqumKd1AO366v9sbTxqfVIwSFiLXUutyw >. III. 'Ground Report | CPI(M) Has Been a Major Force Behind BJP's Mainstreaming in West Bengal' by Monobina Gupta at < https://thewire.in/politics/elections-2019-west-bengal-bjp-cpim-trinamool?fbclid=IwAR2kozM6nsPU4Sq-6ki2pFzgKA1tT7Ehezk0N_ed_RgyKQGBNu_HtuQHHIw >. IV. '“Media Falsehoods Generate Sense of Pessimism”: CPI (M) Tears into TOI's Allegations of Collusion with BJP in WB' at < https://sabrangindia.in/article/media-falsehoods-generate-sense-pessimism-cpi-m-tears-tois-allegations-collusion-bjp-wb >. V. 'Mamata Banerjee Is No Antidote to Narendra Modi: When TMC propaganda meets liberal fantasy' by Mohan J. Dutta at < https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/16949/Mamata-Banerjee-Is-No-Antidote-to-Narendra-Modi >. There'd, of course, be a few who, like the mentally deranged Meher Ali in Tagore's celebrated 'Kshudito Pashan' (Hungry Stones), would keep screaming: "Sab Jhut Hai!" (everything is a lie - propagated by the "corporate media"). And, their, still faithful, even if visibly depleting, minions would, dutifully, keep echoing it. But, those who acknowledge their stakes in the state of things, and the underlying dynamics, can hardly afford to ape them. We need to have a real hard look into the evolving ambient realities. Goes without saying that TMC's hooliganism is a major factor. But, definitely, that's not the only one. Did note elsewhere that the rise of the TMC had also, broadly, followed the same trajectory - based on the public perception as the (potentially) main anti-CPI(M) fighting force. The noteworthy point is that the BJP poses a very different order of threat. Drawing, in the main, upon the feeling of hatred embedded in the psyche of the (Bengali) Hindus, not unrelated to historical engagements in the past, the Partition, in particular, and systematically stirring it up. That's where we are. After having got the bust of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar - a major figure of the Bengal Renaissance, a rationalist and agnostic to boot - defiled and demolished 9ref.: < https://www.altnews.in/a-fact-check-of-claims-made-by-bjp-about-vidyasagar-college-violence/?fbclid=IwAR2jjEZJJgOOrac5ubSiSV2EHgnRf2w4ZECZf7ZC3M-ZAz0yfhdjuy2xwaE>), the Prime Minister promises to uphold his "vision" by erecting a statue of his made of "panchdhatu" (five metals)! (Ref.: < https://indianexpress.com/elections/pm-narendra-modi-commits-to-building-grand-statue-of-vidyasagar-in-kolkata-5730658/ >.) And, that goes unchallenged on that score. That's where we are.] https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/others/sunday-read/ram-navami-on-lenin-street/amp_articleshow/69392738.cms?fbclid=IwAR2NTHW4I1ne0ZAo2txNYec_t4i1WZmTetpZuMZXUwndRfdBswsHnMnesko RAM NAVAMI ON LENIN STREET Mumbai Mirror | Updated: May 19, 2019, 08.59 AM IST Ram Navami on Lenin street By Samrat Chakrabarti BJP’s confidence about its prospects in Bengal has been bolstered by an unlikely source — the Left. In Kolkata’s neighbourhoods, tiny party flags put up at election time, are never really brought down. They just fall apart after wear and tear. One marker of an ongoing election here is that you see a whole host of new ones, along with the old. The changing dynamics of these flags — numeracy, concentration and condition — tell a story. In Kolkata, from the red of the Left Front to the tri-colour of the All India Trinamool Congress, the changing politics of West Bengal, have added a new colour — saffron of the BJP. It’s the arrival of this new flag on Kolkata’s lampposts that tells the story of Bengal’s politics today. A steady rise If you want to calculate it, there is a simple way to measure the BJP’s rise in Bengal. From six per cent in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the BJP’s vote share hurtled past 17 per cent by 2014. Almost all of that 11 per cent gain has come from the CPI(M), which, in the same period, lost 13 per cent of its vote share. This trend, CPI(M)’s en bloc loss to the BJP, seems to have only continued since 2014. So much so that by 2016, the BJP clinched more than 28 per cent vote share in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha by-poll. For Mamata Banerjee, this straight transference of votes has meant a loss of trust in the CPI(M) vote base. In the panchayat elections, held in May 2018, the TMC’s response was the use of muscle power to keep the BJP out. What resulted was a poll marred by widespread violence, which led to two dozen deaths and allegations of largescale rigging. People still haven’t forgotten this and this has further helped the BJP. Sanaka Mazumdar, 36, from Bargachi, which falls on the border between the two districts Nadia and Bardhaman, says, “This time, all of us have voted for the BJP.” Mazumdar hails from a CPI(M) stronghold. “She [Mamata Banerjee] hurt our pride. If she had allowed us to vote in the panchayat elections, many of us would have chosen her because we’re actually quite happy with the work she has done. There is electricity in every home and the roads she has made are much better. We also get our payments on time. But because we are seen as a CPI(M) stronghold, she refused to trust us. So we have decided to teach her a lesson this time.” While the panchayat elections and the allegations of widespread local corruption by Trinamool Congress workers have aided the BJP’s prospects in Bengal this election, it does not quite elucidate the straight transference of votes from the Left to the Right that snowballed into BJP’s rise in West Bengal. It does not explain the entry of Hindutva in the hinterland of Bengal. Sukumar Mitra, a grassroots environmentalist from Barasat, explains, “After the 2008 panchayat elections following Nandigram and Singur, the erosion of the Left Front and CPI(M) gradually began. This has translated into an almost equal vote gain for the BJP. The Left support in the border districts was not based on ideology. Almost all of them were refugees.” These refugees largely comprise land-owning Hindu families — who left everything behind and fled to India when largescale communal violence erupted in Bangladesh. The last waves of these Hindu refugees came in the wake of Bangladesh’s independence. This refugee vote bank that the CPI(M) managed to make its own today resulted in how the BJP rose in Bengal as the emerging opposition to the TMC. Comrade to Ramgrade “We have an insect here that we call ‘gondho-poka’ because it smells awful. These ‘bam-panthi’ [Left supporting] families call these insects ‘gandhipoka’”, says Sukumar. “These people were part of the Left Front not because of their ideology. They were in the CPI(M) because of their hatred of Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress. They blame the party for the Partition.” Three generations on, these families are well established and not fighting for economic survival. So, while the original pain of having to leave one’s homeland has been forgotten, the feeling of communal hatred has remained. “And now with the BJP, they wear their bigotry on their sleeves. They went from being comrade to Ramgrade.” At the Amit Shah rally in Kolkata, Sushanto Adhikari, in his 50s, from Nadia, stood by the side and quietly watched the procession go by. For someone who identified himself as a life-long CPI(M) supporter, this is the first time he’s voting for the BJP. His mounting anger against the TMC is largely because of the panchayat polls, but it’s his bigotry that helps him square BJP’s religious politics with the Left ideology. “Everywhere there is trouble and it’s always the Muslims who are at the centre of it,” he says. (L) BJP workers protested against the clashes that broke out during Amit Shah’s rally; (R) A clash between BJP supporters and the police during Shah’s Kolkata rally Sabir Ahamed, a Research Fellow at Pratichi and convenor of Know Your Neighbour, an initiative started in 2016 to promote communal harmony in Kolkata and its suburbs, says: “A big reason for communalism is ignorance about one another. The one thing the BJP has been successful in doing so far in the state is creating a climate of fear. Now Muslims are a lot more cautious… however, the increase in the party’s popularity is not all ideological. A lot of it is anti-incumbency, too” The rise of the BJP, particularly since 2016, has coincided with an increasing number of communal clashes in Bengal. According to a report by the home ministry in March 2018, the incidents of violent communal clashes have risen from 38 in 2016 to 58 the following year. The number of such clashes, from 2011 to 2014, would average to about 20 a year. Most incidents follow a similar pattern. Low intensity communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims are centered on religious processions, often in areas where the communities live cheek by jowl. In 2016, in North 24 Parganas, there was a clash over a Durga Puja and Moharram procession. In Malda, in 2016, a riot was triggered by a low intensity bomb after it was lobbed at a Moharram procession. At another site the same year, a Durga procession was led on a route (traditionally avoided) that ended up taking it past the local Jama Masjid, resulting in violence. In each case, arson, vandalism and violence occurred resulting in injury and sometimes even death. One kind of religious procession — taken out especially during Ram Navami, which has featured prominently in these communal clashes in Bengal — is not indigenous to Bengali culture. Children brandishing swords and knives during the festival make for a fresh sight in Bengal. On April 5, 2017, Bengal saw 200 of such Ram Navami processions by “Rama Navami Udjapan Samity”, against — in their words — “growing Jihadi activities.” In West Burdwan, in March 2018, despite several police attempts to stop one such procession, it made its way to a mosque, where violence was promptly triggered. One man was hacked to death and a deputy commissioner of police lost a hand in a bomb explosion. To people who live in these areas, this violence is new. It has not been part of the political landscape since 1964. Losing ground RSS is not new to Bengal. Shakhas, however, have seen a significant growth in recent times. According to news reports, they have more than doubled, from 580 in 2011 to 1,492 in 2016. In Basirhat, the RSS claims an increase of 10,000 new members in its shakhas owing to communal clashes in the area. Bajrang Dal, too, has wormed its way here and one can even see Shiv Sena flags lining the roads in parts of Bengal’s borders districts. The Marxist organisation United Central Refugee Council, which was set up to see the interests of this electorate, has become virtually non-existent. Replacing it are new organisations like the Nikhil Bharat Bangali Udbastu Samanwayay Samiti — a Nagpur-based Hindu outfit whose president Subodh Biswas is awaiting trial for inciting hate speech in Assam. At Amit Shah’s rally, Sushanto Adhikari was seen standing with a person wearing the organisation’s badge on his chest. Kunal Chattopadhyay, professor, Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, says, “The Left dealt with saffronisation administratively. It believed that state action to stamp out any communal conflagration was enough. They prevented riots in 1984 and 1992, and felt that that was good enough. They did not fight it ideologically.” The BJP is expected to realistically win some four to six seats, according to local leaders from both the Left and TMC. These will come from North Bengal and the border districts. A longtime Left leader says, on the condition of anonymity, that if the Left vote share falls below 12 per cent, it could take the BJP past 10 seats. And if that happens as the BJP forms a new government at the Centre, Mamata could face a mass exodus from her party. Symbolism matters In a city which is particularly fond of symbols and symbolism, Amit Shah’s rally on May 14, served as a chilling metaphor for the political rise of the BJP in West Bengal. It was a mega road show, bursting from the seams with people from the border districts and outside. Modeled after a Ram Navami procession with cosplays of Hanumans and Rams, the procession route began on Lenin Street and winded its way past a neighbourhood that is home to a large concentration of Muslims – among the oldest such in Kolkata. Elderly Muslim men could be seen watching the large crowd as it marched past them shouting “Jai Sri Ram” and ‘Mandir yahin banayenge”. Further down the route, on College Street, in front of Calcutta’s famed Presidency College, a few coffee house intellectuals stood with their jhola bags watching the same procession. They looked confused and even nervous. In Bengal, an education is deemed incomplete if you have not read or heard of Michael Madhusudan Dutta’s epic poem “Meghnadbodh Kabbo”. It’s considered one of the highest achievements of Bangla language. In it, the tragic hero Ravan’s son is pitted in an unfair battle against Ram and Lakshman. “Jai Sri Ram” and “Hanuman” up until now were largely unheard of in Bengal. As the procession culminated in violence, one of the casualties was the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar — the leading light of Bengali culture, the polymath who reconstructed the Bengali alphabet and the one credited for the Widow Remarriage Act. The next day we went to inspect where the rally took place and met Bablu Shekh. A tea-seller by profession, Shekh was visibly upset: “We are all Indians. I have no qualms in saying Jai Hind and Inquilab zindabad, but what is this Jai Sri Ram?” Our conversation gets cut short by a man in a chowkidar uniform. “We owe our reading and writing to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar,” he says, not wishing to reveal his name. “What will these uneducated outsiders understand what that man stood for? This Muslim-Hindu thing will not work here in Bengal.” The chowkidar mutters, “Renaissance”. “That happened here,” he says. “That has not gone.” -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZgerDvPUs7eq79deFxmHfKKSxDCus7s%3DeA8dniVQjD1Bg%40mail.gmail.com. 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