Muslims & Hindus in WB
Muslims & Hindus in WB
Much of clashes which took place in recent times, happened not as a result between differences within the two communities. These clashes, mostly in rural Bengal is due to petty politics between BJP and Trinamool grassroot level workers. In this densely populated state, the residents mostly fall in low income category. Therefore they have little choice left, other than supporting a particular party, preferably the election winner party, which can give them benefit in many ways. For this reason, most of LF bastions in WB turned overnight as Trinamool supporters after 2011 Trinamool victory, only to get some tangible advantage. Religious faith has never been a dominant factor to join a particular party in WB
I read a biased article to project historical deep division between Hindu Muslims in WB. It could only project few examples of rioting in 70 years of independence, where clashes between party workers in political line, are much more significant rather than communal difference. In our school or college days we used to read in news paper about riots in areas, mostly the epicentre of which used to be in western UP, but rarely observed in Bengal. Thanks to prolonged communist rule in WB for pretty long time.
The Hindu Muslim migration after partition in Punjab and Bengal has different story lines. Unlike Punjab, where the migration, after independence, completed in one stroke- in WB, migration of Hindu Muslim was spread over decades. The reason behind it, Punjab witnessed violence and riots only during partition period which was short lived . But in Bengal, no significant riot took place in 1947. The famous riot in Noakhali and Kolkata occurred during 1946. Till 1971 Hindus came in batches. In 1947 mostly upperclass Hindus came including majority Hindu zamindars. Thereafter major exodus occurred in 1951, 57-58, 62, 65 and 1971 when Bangladesh was formed. This is the principle reason why the percentage of Hindu population reduced to 9% from a whooping 30% during partition. Most of Hindu community who lived in east Pakistan before onset of partition, own property there. So what they mostly did, keep some relatives to take care of property in East Pakistan and some of them migrated to India. There was strong rumour that time, that East Pakistan will get reunited with India again. Moreover the border was more porous compared to border in Punjab. When the idea of reunification starts fading, Hindus came to India in batches. It may be noted that it was not the case in Punjab, as the erstwhile Punjab province had both Hindu, Muslim and Shiks unlike in Bengal where it was only Hindus and Muslims. Sikhs of Punjab decisively choose to annexed with India. Hence Punjab was not polarised like Bengal where it was all between Hindu and Muslim.
Now some demographic fact-sheets. First of all population data itself is wrong. Just after partition, Muslim population was 29% and now it is 27%. Only in two districts of WB Muslims are in majority, those are Murshidabad and Malda. Apart from that three other districts, Muslims have significant population in West Dinajpur, N 24 Parganas and Birbhum.
Bengal witnessed violent Naxal movement in 70s. It was not a communal one. Once the thriving industrial state of Bengal, witnessed exodus of business houses due to LF ideology during initial days of LF rule. major chunk of people become jobless, leading to poverty. Also after 71war many Hindus came to WB, leading to population explosion. So for survival, petty crimes, under cover of political party starts thriving.
If u look back India’s situation before partition, you will find, Hindus traditionally own more land had more money and education. Muslims were generally peasant class and were dominated by Hindus. That is why in 1937 provincial election Krishak Proja Party with the leadership of Fazlul Haque was winner in most seats and congress came second, even though, in other parts of India congress won by a thumping majority. The interesting part, Bengal being a state with majority Muslim population did not vote for Muslim League. This shows the harmonious relationship of two communities. The Bengali Muslims voted to new party as they had promised to hand over the rights of land, which the Muslim peasants were cultivating on behalf of Hindu zamindars.
Much of Hindu Muslim division attributed to ‘divide and rule’ policy of Britishers. Lord Curzon did 1905 Bengal partition to create majority Muslim dominated East Bengal and Assam as one state making Dhaka as its capital and Hindu majority WB, Bihar, Orissa as another state with Kolkata as capital. Colonial rulers feared the revolutionary force of Bengali middle class and acknowledge their combined strength which could jeopardise the unhindered colonial expansion. It was the reason behind Bengal partition.
Also one has to keep in mind that despite different religious faith the cementing act between the two communities are similar food habits, common festivals like Bengali Nababarsho, language and many habits which evolved due to sharing same geographic and climate conditions. A UP Muslim or a Karnataka Muslim may not feel comfortable when mixing with a Bengali Muslim, because of their different cultural identity. A Bengali Muslim will feel more close to a Bengali Hindu. This social fabric systematically degraded by present polarising politics.
Now let us be back to present situation . WB had communist Govt from 1977 to 2011. Thanks to liberal views of LF Govt, there never was any significant differences between the two communities. At least in my childhood days we had no discrimination between the two communities. Most of the present allegations of riots are false and generated by BJP’s IT cell.
Like other parts in India, the Muslims used to vote for congress in Muslim majority districts like Murshidabad Malda, W Dinajpur. In kolkata suburb of N 24 Parganas and S 24 Parganas, votes used to go to LF.
But this time the traditional vote bank of them went to Trinamool. The state is so polarised that Muslim voters somehow wanted to oust BJP from state, so they decided to vote for Trinamool.
The middle class Bengalis were paranoid by BJP’s Hindutwa and excess campaign by them, which hurt the Bengali sentiment, so they voted against BJP.
Again I am telling, the image of WB just after 2021 results, in national media it has been consistently showing that BJP workers are getting attacked. Modi leaving COVID crisis, telephoning WB Governor or Nadda rushing to WB, is just to tarnish the image of Bengal in the eyes of other states. Few party workers died in clashes and workers, in which, both from BJP and Trinamool. In one instance clash occurred as the meat kept for celebration allegedly eaten by dog which was let loose by opponent. Three people died. This is just an example. These type of petty clashes are rampant in Bengal. However none of them in communal line. BJP always take advantage and portray incidents blown out of proportion by using their strong IT cell. Downfall of congress also can be partly attributed to Success of BJP’s propaganda machinery.
Now let me talk about Bangladesh. When I went in 2013, in many ways, be it per capita income or GDP, it was lowly placed compared to India . But if you see the present condition, BD in many index like health, HDI performing better than India. Their per capita income is same level like India. Thanks a stable Govt led by Sheikh Hasina, though there is widespread perception that present gov is responsible for human rights violation and people are unable to exercise their democratic right of opposing present government on certain issues. But again it is a different aspect. I have seen many Hindus working there, but send their children to India for study and cherish to come in WB after retirement and settle down. There is no denial that certain undercurrent of fear exists. The bottom line is not the religious differences, it is the property held by Hindus in villages , which the Muslim neighbors try to grab at a much lower price by intimidating Hindu minorities. You need to keep in mind that BD has present population of 18 crore, one of the most densely populated country in the world. So land is in much demand.
Moreover few years back BD was economically weak which tempted Hindus and sometimes Muslims to cross the border and settle in WB. But now the picture is completely different. As many as four Lacs Indians work in BD. I stayed in South of Bangladesh. The area was close to Sunderban. In my locality Hindu Muslim population was 50:50. Reason being, those areas were interior and in 70s or 80s, only transportation mode was waterways. The effect of war of independence was not felt in this area so aggressively and Hindus never had to leave their home. In three years of my stay I did not came across any communal flare ups. In news paper I read few incidents of temple burning. Again , the reason behind, as told by me earlier just to intimidate Hindus to grab their property at cheaper rate. I still remember there were as many as 40 Hindu DMs out of 64 districts. On the contrary, if you look at our own country, Muslims hold only two percent of Government jobs whereas population wise, Muslims are close to twenty percent. Thanks I closely worked with many Muslim or Hindu engineers in BPDB (Bangladesh power development board), but can’t remember any hatred shown by them for the other religion. Now a days no one comes to India as BD has lot of job opportunity created in Garment and other sectors. One has to understand that language and food habit is the most essential thing to keep people closure and feel as one community rather than their communal identities.
Debadattaray
05/05/2021
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