The question is “Quo Vadis (where are you going) West Bengal”? While attempting to answer the question, it is found that a large section of Hindu Bengali of West Bengal constitutes a race with psychological birth defect. They align more with Muslim people of Bangladesh than with Hindu people of even neighboring states of Assam, Bihar and Odisha. They suffer from perpetual death wish, which they call ‘intellectualism’. Two-thirds of Bengal Province was lost to Islamic East Pakistan in 1947. However, till June-July of 1947, and after the Great Calcutta Killings and Noakhali Massacre of Hindus, this group of Hindu Bengali was trying to form an independent and undivided Bengal with help from Muslim League. This group of Hindu Bengali failed to see the real intent of Muslims of Bengal.
Eminent writer and political leader of East Pakistan/Bangladesh, Abul Mansur Ahmed in his autobiographical book ‘Fifty years of politics as I saw it’ has explained the intent of Muslim Bengali people very clearly when he said “One Pakistan has been replaced by two Pakistans in accordance with Lahore Resolution. The Government of India has assisted us in implementing the Lahore Resolution …. The Lahore resolution does not mention the word ‘Pakistan’. It mentioned only the Muslim majority areas of North-Western and Eastern regions of British India. This means that the name of the states should be decided by the (Muslim) people (of those areas) later. The North-Western (Muslim) people have named their state ‘Pakistan’. We, Easterners have named ours ‘Bangladesh’. There is no reason to be confused”.
However, like Gandhi’s obsession with Ahimsa, this section of Hindu Bengali people was obsessed with ‘Bengali-ness’ (Bangaliana). Bangladesh became a ‘case study’ as to how Muslim majority East Pakistan could transform into a Muslim Bangladesh, with Islam as state religion, and not any stupid secular Bangladesh after few years of independence from Pakistan. Today (2021) total population of Bangladesh and West Bengal is about 268.2 million of which about 183.3 million are Muslims. With this 68.3 percent of Muslims, in combined Bangladesh and West Bengal, if that section of Hindu Bengali people of West Bengal was dreaming of a ‘secular Bengal’ with some fraudulent Bengali-ness, then they were real time morons and needed to revisit what Abul Mansur Ahmed has said above.
Though after 69 years of first election in independent India, BJP could create hype before West Bengal assembly election of 2021, it failed to come to power in the state. In future also BJP can never come to power in West Bengal because of this large chunk of Hindu Bengali of the state who hates Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and BJP for no good reason and feel attached with Muslims of Bangladesh. These Hindu Bengali people hate Dr. Mookerjee for not allowing them to be the second class and persecuted Hindu citizens in the imaginary undivided Islamic Bengal. The situation has been worsened further by the evil Communists. Before August 1947, Communists supported creation of Islamic Pakistan. But after independence of India, the Communists could brain-wash a large group of Hindu Bengali of West Bengal, including refugees, to be pathologically secular.
The Communists of West Bengal, while in power in the state for continuous 34 years (1977 to 2011) destroyed thousands of factories, industries and work culture to make a large group of violently unemployed people and Proletariat who were made to support them to remain in power. The land reform and Panchyati-raj of Communists were political tools to control rural voters. Communists also allowed large-scale and continuous illegal immigration of Muslims from East Pakistan/Bangladesh to West Bengal in the name of ‘Bengali-ness’ and demolished the demography of the state for vote-bank politics.
On 4 August 2005, Mamata Banerjee, the then TMC Member of Parliament, demanded time for her in the House. She wanted to speak against the inclusion, by the then Left Front government of West Bengal, the names of Bangladeshi citizens in the voters’ list of the state. On being denied permission to speak, Mamata Banerjee threw papers at the Chair out of frustration and cried. But the same Mamata Banerjee, as Chief Minister of West Bengal, fought vehemently against CAA in 2019 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc-ZthNre4I). Surprisingly, all the state governments of West Bengal (Congress, Communist and TMC) remained silent on the continuous religious persecution of Hindus in East Pakistan/Bangladesh in the name of communal harmony in the state.
Communist Party of India (CPI) never fought for independence of India. On the contrary, between 1942 and August 1947, Communists were spying for the British on the Indian freedom fighters. Communists of Bengal even refused to condemn the Great Calcutta Killings in Bengal Assembly and in the process, supported the Islamic cause of Muslim League in Bengal. But after independence, these Communists became ‘holier than thou’ to question the role of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha in freedom struggle. By hating Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in a sustained manner after 1947 through false propaganda, Communists successfully covered up their evilness and anti-independence stand.
The unreasonable attachment of this section of Hindu Bengali community with Muslim Bengali community, on the basis of Bengali-ness, has been utterly misplaced. Unlike Hinduism, Islam has been a political ideology too. In the words of Dr Ambedkar “Muslim politics is essentially clerical and recognizes only one difference, namely, that existing between Hindus and Muslims”. Dr Ambedkar even went further to say “…. it is not possible to establish social contact between Hindus and Muslims, because such contact can only mean contact between women from one side (Hindus) and men from other side (Muslims)”. But so-called intellectuality of secular and liberal Hindu Bengali made them to overlook those obvious sociological facts. Though there are no available data, but a casual look at West Bengal society shows that Hindu Bengali girls marrying Muslim boys has been commonplace all along but reverse has been extremely rare, combustive and violent if the Hindu boy had not converted to Islam.
In 2011, TMC replaced the Communists as ruling party in West Bengal. On 5 May 2021, TMC came to power in the state for the third consecutive term with about three-forth majority. High proportion of minority voters, which is as high as 33 percent now, too was a deciding factor in favor of TMC. The term ‘anti-incumbency’ is unknown to the voters of the state. West Bengal election revolves around Jiski Lathi, Uski Bhains principle. And the Lathi belongs to ruling party. Unlike other states of India, the change of ruling party in West Bengal is permanent. So far Congress, United Front, and Communist parties had lost the status of ruling parties permanently in sequential manner. The fate of present ruling TMC party is unlikely to be different. Change of ruling party happens in West Bengal when the voters snatch the Lathi from the ruling party.
Economic condition of the state has gone from bad to worse in past 10 years. West Bengal is going through a severe economic crisis. The state government is only serious about winning elections and consolidating political power by cleansing political opponents. A few lakhs of government posts have been abolished in past years. Tens of thousands of posts of state police and school teachers are vacant a proportion of which has been filled by poorly paid contractual Civic Volunteers and Para-teachers, who are faithful to ruling TMC party. State government employees are not getting Dearness Allowance. Pensioners of Kolkata Corporation are not getting pension. About 40 lakhs of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled laborers from the state are working in other states of the country. There is rampant corruption in different government appointments in the state and Calcutta High Court has been regularly cautioning state government about the irregularities.
There has been no major industrialization in the state. New job creation has stopped. However, the number of beggars within India is highest in West Bengal (81,244). While West Bengal contributes to 7.5 percent of India’s population, its beggar contribution is more than 20 percent. To cover-up this grim picture, state government is resorting to propaganda and launching different half cooked and populist welfare schemes for the poor people. These welfare schemes do not have proper planning and resource allocations. Poor people of the state are becoming freeloaders with meager supports from the state government.
Educated boys and girls of West Bengal, in tens of thousands, are going to other states for doing jobs. The state’s total debt during 2011 was rupees 1.92 lakh crores, which has raised to rupees 5.35 lakh crores by the end of 2021-22. Lately, as a desperate move, state government has initiated efforts to increase the availability and sale of alcohol at doorstep level across the state to generate revenue. TMC government is getting weaker from within day by day due to corruption and infighting. Governance has deteriorated miserably in West Bengal. The situation is worse than erstwhile Cadre-raj of Communists.
The TMC government of the state has been giving annual financial support in form of grants-in-aid to about 25,000 clubs across the state for encouraging sports and athletics. The total cost to state exchequer from 2014 to 2021 was tens of hundreds of crores of rupees. But the clubs were said to be the extension of TMC party office only. TMC leaders, at different levels, are allegedly involved in collecting ‘cut money’, running ‘syndicate-raj’ and doing smuggling of coal and cows across Bangladesh border.
In 2021 under the ‘Yuvasree Prokolpo’, TMC government of West Bengal has started paying ‘Bekar Bhata’ (un-employment stipend) to all unemployed youths, who read up to VIII standard, at the rate of rupees 1500.00 per month. Very naturally those youths would have to be TMC supporters only. The list of eligible unemployed published for Bekar Bhata has a strong bias towards a particular minority community of the state. The same bias was observed in the appointment of Civic Volunteers and Para-teachers.
From 2022, the state government of West Bengal is starting to give monthly financial stipends to old, widow and challenged people of the state. Under another programme (Lakkhir Bhandar), rupees five hundred to one thousand per month are given to women of the state. But larger question is from where the money will come in the long run? The scheme of delivering ration at door step (Duware Ration) could not take up as envisaged for lack of funds. Health scheme Sasthya Sathi has fallen flat on the face for want of funds. There is no definite plan to foot the bills of all welfare schemes except possibly taking loans. That way, by the 2024 Parliamentary Election of India, the debt of the state government may become double of the current figure.
The ruling TMC party of West Bengal won the 2021 state assembly election with ethnocentric propaganda and anti-CAA stand. Before state assembly election, TMC kept on publicly labeling Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and BJP as outside entities without any cultural connection with West Bengal. It also went to people by projecting Mamata Banerjee’s identity as ‘daughter of the state’. Such approach has highly restricted the political prospect of TMC in other states of India. TMC has become a victim of its ethnocentric identity in all India politics.
However, the 2024 Parliamentary Election plan of TMC is clear. It knows that the party will not be accepted to lead the anti-BJP alliance before election. So the party’s target is to get at least 45 MPs, of which 42 will be from West Bengal (by hook or by crook) and rest 3 from smaller states of the country. With 45 MPs, TMC will be better positioned to lead the opposition in the Parliament with support from other non-BJP parties, if needed. This, along with steady decline of Congress party, will elevate TMC as number one opposition political force at national level. In the best possible scenario of hung Parliament after election, Mamata Banerjee can even become the Prime Minister of India like Deve Gowda, Chandra Shekhar or I K Gujral.
Making of bombs has become a sort of cottage industry in the state. Different Bangladeshi Islamic terrorist groups have made inroads into West Bengal. Specific minority community of the state had shown their raw strength during anti-CAA protests. The community members, in tens of thousands, resented publicly against abolition of Triple Talaq. They also flexed their muscles publicly in support of settling Rohingyas in the state. In past few years dozens of riots were committed by them in different parts of the state. But the ruling government, instead of suppressing those riots, suppressed the news.
TMC government of West Bengal has started playing with Hinduism. In the name of making Hindu kid students curious, West Bengal government has distorted Ramayana. But Muslim kids of the state are not made curious by distorting Quran and Sahih Hadith. In recent time Azan (Muslim call to prayer) was given from the public ‘Durga Puja’ pendal of Kolkata. But, no Hindu devotional song was played from any mosque of the state during Eid.
Khela Hobe slogan of TMC before 2021 Assembly Election was brought from Bangladesh. Slogan of Bangladesh liberation movement Jai Bangla of Mujibar Rahman has become the popular slogan of the ruling TMC party of West Bengal. TMC government had passed a bill in the state assembly, two years back, to rename the state as “Bangla”, which carried the connotation of “Bangladesh”. The effort was turned down by the Central government later. If secular Hindu Bengali community of West Bengal is still skeptical, it can get additional inputs from American Thinker.
The bottom line is ex-MP of TMC and converted Islamist Kabir Suman’s use of uncouth and anti-Hindu abusive language towards a Hindu Bengali reporter of Kolkata in late January 2022 over telephone and absence of protest from the Hindu Bengali intellectuals of the state. These represent the true picture of current political and socio-religious situation in West Bengal.
Quo Vadis, West Bengal? West Bangladesh?
