Bengal : In the cusp of Nationalism and Jihad

The political scene in Bengal is going through a tectonic shift. The recent occurrence of events in Bengal have demolished the confidence of the people on a Government which was elected with huge mandate by the same people. The incumbent TMC government in the state is in the headlines for all wrong reasons. The other erstwhile political force, the communists front has been reduced to oblivion. The Congress has never been able to gain foothold in Bengal after 1977 apart from 1984 when it recorded a good tally riding on the sympathy votes, after the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi. However, the BJP which till as recently as 2013 was considered as a non starter, non player in West Bengal has secured about 18% vote share in a four cornered fight in the state. One has to agree that BJP had very less or even non existent organization in many parts of Bengal, still it stole the show. Modi Magic did work for BJP in West Bengal too as it did in the rest of the country.

On February 5th, 2014 a #NaMo Rally was organized in Kolkata’s iconic Brigade Ground, that has historically shaped the politics of Bengal to say the least. More than 3 lac people assembled there on that day, most of them came on their own. BJP in Bengal at that moment neither had the resources nor the organization to compete with the TMC which had the state machinery working for it. Still more people came forward willingly to Modi’s Brigade rally than any of the other’s. It was evident that winds were changing. The TMC and Left leaders nodded in denial when asked about the #ModiWave. Ideologically the Left is vehemently opposed to the idea we BJP or our Leader Narendra Modi represent, while about TMC I cannot comment because they lack a clear ideology or road map on how they run their version of politics. After that February rally the momentum picked up in Bengal in favour of BJP. I travelled extensively across South Bengal before the election campaign started to gauge the mood. There were varied reactions to Narendra Modi’s candidature as PM but one thing was evident - there was definitely a Modi effect in Bengal too. Elections took place, were marred by violence as usually it happens. Results were declared on 16th May and BJP came to power, Left was reduced to 2 seats, Congress managed 4 seats from its nurtured constituencies BJP got 2 and TMC had 34 in it best tally ever. The Irony was, despite her best performance ever, Mamata could not be a deciding factor for the Government formation in the 16th Lok Sabha. Mamata had once dreamt of being the PM and boasted of a noose she would use to drag Narendra Modi to the dungeon. Mamata’s dream was shattered what we in Bengali say বাড়া ভাতে ছাই দেওয়া .

Since then there has been an unprecedented rise in attacks on BJP cadre in the state on one hand and a regular increase in the membership of BJP on the other. This has made Mamata wary and she first decided to label BJP as a divisive force, she tried to project Modi as a face of riots. She left no stone unturned in defaming and maligning BJP and its leaders. I will analyze the various mood, tenor and strides of Mamata in the following sections.

Upbeat - As a Prime Minister Aspirant. From January to April Mid 2014

Mamata was very positive about winning at least 50 seats for TMC, a hung parliament and she becoming the PM with certain sections of the Islamic lobby pitching for her based on her claim of implementing the sachar committee recommendations. It had become almost certain way back in 2012 that Congress will falter badly in Lok Sabha 2014. So Mamata was looked up to by the Islamic lobby as a saviour due to her vote bank compulsions. She once proclaimed that eating beef is her fundamental right in the parliament. So she was seen by the Jamat lobby as a favorable PM who would help them to further their cause of continuing a proxy war against Bharat. In her wild aspirations she even announced her plan to candidates pan India. In the 30th January Brigade rally which she had planned in a hurry in response to the February #NaMo rally of BJP, she not only announced jelaye jelaye Tirnamool but also went a step forward to proclaim - Haryana te Trinamool, Punjab a Trinamool, Kerala teo Trinamool, UP teo Trinamool. Mamata definitely was being backed by a certain lobby as a PM candidate. Many psephologists had predicted a hung parliament with Congress reduced to below 100, BJP at 150 and about 300 odd seats shared between regional parties.

Crouching PM hidden Kingmaker. From April Mid to May 16th, 2014

Mamata had once tried to forge an East Coast alliance which fell flat with Naveen Babu and Nitish Kumar giving it a cold shoulder. At one point Mamata had called up Jayalalitha to go overboard to propose Jaya’s candidature as PM, while still secretly nurturing her own PM dream. During April she also went to New Delhi to hold a rally with a dependency on Anna Hazare and made a fool of herself, which was followed by a spanking of a few sycophants in her party like Derek O’Brien, I am told by some of her trusted lieutenants.

She then started banking on the hypothesis that if somehow BJP fell short of a clear majority and was restricted to around 200 seats, she could get support from congress for its own vested interests and other smaller parties would also fall in line. She became a messiah of minorities (read muslims) and started wearing the burkha more frequently and asked others in her party to do the same. Fridays became more important for her and she never forgot to mention - friday the Jumma Bar, as if Friday was a weekly holiday. She just believed somehow she was the PM in waiting. In the meanwhile Narendra Modi was touring the entire country with his high voltage public rallies demolishing the Congress fortresses, Mamata was in denial of an obvious Modi wave. Initially #NaMo was soft on Mamata, he even pondered over the metaphorical laddus for people of Bengal but Mamata buoyed by the arrogance of Petro Dollar funded lobby’s support continued to use words like dangar mukh (Face of Riots) and her party stooges coining words like butcher of Gujarat. with elections going on Mamata even had the audacity to say kon Haridas Pal and Komor a dori poriye jail a pure debo to please her vote banks comprising infiltrators. #NaMo’s rally in Serampore on 27th April was a paradigm shift from his earlier soft stance. In his longest speech ever in Bengal which lasted for about 56 minutes he demolished the facade of honesty that Mamata always put up to cover the internal malpractices in her way of governance. #NaMo asked relevant questions on sale of paintings to Saradha and infiltration across the border with Bangladesh and Bangladeshi infiltrators getting benefits out of government schemes at the cost of native Bharatiya citizen. However by this time Mamata’s pan India dreams lost steam and the only silver lining in the cloud she saw was the possibility of getting maximum seats from Bengal to be in a position to dictate terms in an event of a fractured verdict, may be with the Anti Modi brigade which consisted of virtually every other political party than the BJP and its natural allies. This was so much so that TMC cadre, (Hindu cadre) in many neighbourhoods went on to say - efforts by you BJP guys to put BJP flags in the area will go to the drains when Mamata will be asked to for support to form Government by the BJP. At least TMC cadre were more receptive to the fact that there is a BJP - Modi wave in the country and BJP will emerge as the single largest party. Also this confidence of the TMC cadre to proclaim BJP would need TMC support could have been a result of their secret meeting in Trinamool Bhawan in which Mamata could have expressed the wish to Join the NDA after elections and bargain for few prized ministries and also ask for someone else to be the PM to keep her Vote Banks happy, since she had always portrayed #NaMo as a divisive figure, which was cheap political theatrics. Finally her house of cards, her dreams were shattered by the no5on of 16th May after BJP had got huge mandate and went past the 272+ on it own and upto 336 (282 + 54) along with its natural allies.

Sulking Pussycat: Mid May to July 2014.

Soon after the results of the Loksabha elections were declared, it became clear that there is no looking back for BJP and the nation would a government which will not have any coalition compulsions. Mamata was virtually quarantined with her 34 MP’s from one but only one state of no particular value in Government formation. TMC MPs were bewildered, not knowing what to do? Mamata never attended a swearing in ceremony of the PM or never had the courtesy to express good wishes to a PM elected with huge mandate after about 30 years in India’s political history. Attacks on BJP cadre became a regular feature in Bengal, Sandeshkhali incident being the most prominent.

Tower of silence: Post August 2014

Ever since the Saradha scam probe was taken over by CBI and its links with many prominent TMC leaders have emerged, Mamata has maintained a chilling silence. Government has become defunct. Further on, there were bomb blasts at many places across Bengal bringing out the Jihadi - TMC nexus in the open. Saradha scam was a financial scam which has exposed the source of funding of TMC. There is not only one Saradha scam but many other such ponzi schemes like Rose Valley, MPS and numerous others small and big have surfaced.

Bengal is in a cusp of a serious security concern which might lead to very critical repercussions that will be detrimental to the integrity of the country. Issues like illegal infiltration from Bangladesh, Jihadis using Indian soil to destabilize India and other countries, circulation of counterfeit currency, cattle smuggling and human trafficking will have far reaching adverse consequences for the entire nation. TMC turns a blind eye to all these for its vote bank compulsions. This is a very dangerous precedent being set, especially in a country like Bharat. These are not Hindu - Muslim or any communal issue at all but the so called Secular political parties like TMC, Congress and CPI(M) make it communal which causes communal discord in Bharat. I believe a citizen of the country whether a Hindu or Muslim or Christian  or Sikh must be fully patriotic and swear by the constitution of Bharat. Any special treatment to any group is bound to create divides that are exploited by so called secular political parties for vote banks. By its actions the TMC is trying to portray that as if a certain section lives in Bharat but is more faithful to the cause of certain terrorist elements operating in a different geography. People have lost confidence on this TMC Government with the rise in crimes against women, deteriorating law and order situation in the state already. Now instead of putting a check on criminal activity leaders of the TMC are openly supporting and indulging in Anti National activity which is all emerging in the Saradha and Jamat links which have surfaced in the last few week after CBI took over investigations on saradha scam and NIA had to be called in to investigate the serial bomb blasts.

This is reminiscent of the situation in Bhagyanagar (Hyderabad) of the Nizams in 1948, when razakars took over the administration during the long absence of the Nizam. Indian military forces had to intervene and protect the people of  Bhagyanagar. Hyderabad was an independent princely state which had not yet acceded to Bharat but West Bengal is a part of Indian union. At various points like Saradha and Burdwan bomb blasts, intervention by central agencies was necessary. Mamata however continues to oppose the moves of the central government by invoking the federal structure of the union of Bharat. Given her limited understanding of secularism I am afraid she is making a mistake between federalism and secessionism. Certain sections of the TMC harbour secessionist mentality is evident from the various activities they indulge in. There is a sentiment among a section of TMC supporters which goes against the nationalist spirit of Bharat. It is unfortunate that many people who have stayed in Bharat after 1947 still think of the unification of Bengal at the cost of the entire nation. It is good to have friendly relations with neighbouring countries especially when cultures are similar to a good extent yet dissimilar in many respect after pursuance of diametrically opposite state principles (read Bharat is a democracy and Bangladesh was an autocracy and a largely Islamic fundamentalist state for the duration) for last 67 years.

By invoking Federalism:

• Can one bear the risk of a porous international border knowing that there are terrorist camps across the border?  
• Can one allow human trafficking and cattle smuggling across the border?
• Can one allow terrorist base camps and explosive assembly lines inside Bharat’s territory even risking the life of its citizens?
• Can one allow West Bengal to be a transit point of illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators entering Bharat and eating away the resources of the nation by settling in Ghettos in almost every Mega City of Bharat be it Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Pune?
• Can one oppose central agencies selectively in cases of terrorism and compromise on national security?
• Can TMC political party say that there is no place for BJP another political party in Bengal and anyone subscribing to the BJP ideology is communal and must be beaten up, raped or killed? This is what BJP party cadre have to listen and go through even. TMC leaders have scant or no respect for a national Govt.  elected by a democratic election process.  
• Can TMC alone claim to represent Bengal? If so then it must take ownership of the bombs being manufactured by terrorists in its own party offices in connivance with its party leaders, isn’t it?
• In the Lok Sabha, TMC MP from Jadavpur Sugato Bose, had talked about majoritarianism and minority rights - is it then implied that unders such hollow secular principles they are collaborating with Jihadis?

Consequently, such a rogue political party has to be sanitized in a surgical manner, an intrusive action by armed forces is absolutely necessary. It is quite clear that the TMC itself is running a terrorist organization and a hawala racket, there is no scope for even a benefit of doubt here. At best we can say that TMC has been taken over by Jihadis, hawala operators, gun runners and anti national elements demanding punitive action at the earliest opportunity. BJP and nationalist cadre have a positive role to play here to save bengal from a secession from Bharat.