West Bengal has developed several communally charged
hotspots since 2015. Aggressive Ram Navami rallies are the primary mechanisms
for the Hindutva organisations to cultivate the Hindutva sentiments in these
regions. Kankinara-Bhatpara region of North 24 parganas district is one of such
places. While the conflict started as early as 2017 when the collective of
Hindutva organisations under RSS brought out a Ram Navami rally. The communal
ambiance was quickly handled because of prompt police action. In 2018 there was
a large-scale riot between the Hindus and Muslims that resulted in death of
several civilians and the sub-urban railway network was interrupted for weeks.
The local Member of Assembly Mr. Arjun Singh's change of political affiliation
from Trinamool Congress to Bharatiya Janta Party added further vibrance to the
ethno-political landscape of the region. Hurling of bombs, sound of gunshot and
regular conflicts kept Bengali newspapers busy reporting Bhatpara. Aamra ek
sachetan Prayas forum, an organisation which studies conflict and peace in
India, did a comprehensive study on the nature of conflicts and published a
ground report
(https://aamrabharatbarsha.com/welcome/singlepost/bhatpara-violence-fact-finding-report)
which shows a mix of local politics and declining jute industries to be the
prime mover of Bhatpara becoming a communal hotbed. Aamra has formed a peace
centre among the riot victims in Bhatpara to bring about positive changes
there, especially among the children. Because of several communal incidents,
Bhatpara has been a focus of attention during the Ram temple inauguration on
January 22, 2024. Contrary to what Bhatpara has experience since 2018, it was
rather peaceful. It is important to understand the factors that brought back
peace in an otherwise hotbed of communally charged landscape.
The setting:
Bhatpara is located on the eastern bank of river hooghly, it
belongs to one of the places where jute industries were established during the
British period which flourished enough to attract workers from different
corners of the country (https://www.jstor.org/stable/20078659). They were then
settled in the prosperous labour colonies and officers quarters
(https://www.jstor.org/stable/141708). With the steady decline of Jute industry
once prosperous colonies have become shanties (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315098975-9/mill-sirens-rang-danger-anna-sailer).
A journey through the river touching places like Kankinara-Bhatpara,
Telinipara, Naihati would show series of jute mills and related labour
colonies. The labour colony settlers have been here for three to five
generations. Although, they have settled down in West Bengal, forming shanty
campuses, these places have never assimilated with dominant Bengali language
and customs. They speak Hindi or Urdu and are able to cling to their traditional
customs and rituals. Their interface with Bengali speaking people has been of
peaceful and tolerant.
In my ethnographic research at post-riot Bhatpara, I have
found out rather natural co-existence between Hindus and Muslims. While the
labour colonies have become ghettoised, as the next generation settlers have
constructed shanties beside the existing labour quarters, there is hardly any
option to avoid everyday physical contact between Hindus and Muslims. The
adjacent makeshift shanties inhabited by Hindus and Muslims have co-operated
each others in their everyday life ranging from food sharing to handling a
nagging kid. The community latrines and common bathing place have added to such
interdependence. I found that a small open space in Tina-gudam area was being
used by both Hindus and Muslims everyday. While there was a large cut-out of
lord Ram, Muslims were preparing for the celebration of Eid at the same ground.
Yet, 2018 onwards a deep division between the Hindus and Muslims characterised
this place
(https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781003273516-6/fundamentalists-meet-suman-nath).
There were even reports of kids of different faiths sitting separately in local
schools. In 2020, just opposite side of Hooghly, another riot broke in
Telinipara-Chandannagar which made this region even more prominent locale for
the cultivation of communal sentiments
(https://aamrabharatbarsha.com/welcome/singlepost/%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BE%E0%A7%9C%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%A5%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8-%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%A8-%E0%A7%A8%E0%A7%A6%E0%A7%A8%E0%A7%A6)
The political economy:
While in my book I wrote extensively on the political
economic equation which existed in Bhatpara during Arjun Sing's switch over and
the Mafia culture which predominated the area
(https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003273516/democracy-social-cleavage-india-suman-nath?refId=8d19e283-3cba-4c4c-a6e1-f1de36cc8840&context=ubx),
the situation has changed over the years. For now, controlling the labours,
making more contractual labourers than the permanent ones is aided with land
related business which involves promoting and buying and selling of lands for
profits. Mr Sing's political adventure with BJP in 2019 when he won the
Barrackpore Parliamentary constituency as a BJP candidate was not viable in
local political economic equations. First of all, his Muslim support base was
gone, Hindutva sentiment could only earn him a popular mandate against ruling
TMC, but, such popular support was already with him since 2001. He won for four
times in Bhatpara Assembly Constituency, hence, aggressive Hindutva didnt earn
him any extra milege; secondly, his political-economic machinery couldn't
operate like it used to be. The local police administration gone out of his
control. Even his house was attacked more than once and even being a Member of
Parliament he couldn't save his home from party goons
(https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/bjp-mp-arjun-singhs-house-in-west-bengal-attacked-with-crude-bombs-7495935/).
As Arjun Singh rejoined TMC in May 2022
(https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/arjun-singh-joins-trinamool-congress-7930470/)
thereby restoring the local political-economic equations once again. Meanwhile,
some of his followers who were allegedly directly involved in the riots and
have allegedly worked actively in dismantling some of the Muslim predominated
labour colonies were also not in a position to work freely until the local
political equation was settled down. Since 2022, slowly the tension between the
two communities have reduced to a significant extent, which is directly
connected to the political stability.
The deafening silence of the aggressive Hindutva:
Does this mean that the Hindutva brigade have gone to the
backfoot? There has been a continuation and further proliferation of RSS run
fitness camps, mock sword fight and not to forget the grand Ram Navami
celebrations (https://www.ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/3119). RSS has
been successful to set the template for the politics in Bhatpara and its
adjacent regions.
One recent example is the creation of 108 ft long ram
portrait by the TMC leader Priyangu Pandey and his wife Jyoti Pandey
(https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/politics-religious-beliefs-different-things-tmc-man-who-made-108-ft-ram-portrait-9124780/).
While Priyangu was internally scapegoated for 2018 Kankinara riot as he was
involved in managing the TMC organised Ram Navami rally where Muslims were
supposed to serve sharbat portraying Hindu-Muslim unity, post May 2022 he has
emerged as a promising TMC leader with an ability to cater the rising demands
of Hindutva. Another local TMC leader Gopal Raut, who was also allegedly
involved in the riots have made a come back with popularity among both the
Hindus and Muslims. On January 22, Both Priyangu and Gopal have organised camps
for mass distribution of blankets to the poor. People belonging to both Hindu
and Muslm communities have queued together when Grand Hindutva was celebrated
by the BJP with firecrackers and lamps. Bhatpara region has seen several houses
placing earthen lamps on the one hand and such queues were conspicuous on the
other.
VHP organised programmes which were both less loud and
smaller in scale; there was no use of DJ boxes with provocative aggressive
Hindutva songs, which they played in 2018 both in Bhatpara and Asansol. The
local police were also on high alert, shops were closed after 11:00 pm and
local administration ensured that no crowed is formed in the night during the
entire month of January 2024.
The relatively peaceful Bhatpara, shows the economic triumph over religious identity sentiments for the time being. It also indicates a strategic shift in approach of the Hindutva organisations at places like Bhatpara which has seen enough communal disturbances for more than five years now.
Suman Nath teaches anthropology at Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
Government College and is the author of the book “Democracy and Social Cleavage
in India Ethnography of Riots, Everyday Politics and Communalism in West Bengal
c. 2012–2021”
