Bigots will try their best to divide but humanity shall prevail....
Basirhat riot: How Bengal is different and why it still gives hope
The teenage boy Souvik Sarkar was protected by Amirul Islam, an old neighbour, who is also the president of the local mosque committee.
Reports of vandalism of several local offices of the TMC by Hindutva workers. Several Muslims have also got injured in the following days, and at least six of them have been shifted to PG Hospital in Kolkata.
Sangh Parivar’s dream of capturing Bengal
Baduria may have grabbed national headlines on Tuesday, but efforts were on for weeks to fuel tension there. Some local media had earlier reported that Pakistan’s flag was hoisted in the area on the occasion of Eid, although it was a green flag that many Muslim groups use in religious processions. Clearly, the area has been on the radar of Hindutva forces for some time now.
When there is a communal flare-up, one would expect a responsible political party to maturely try to control the situation. The Sangh Parivar, however, thrives on what Paul Brass had called “institutionalised riot system” (IRS).
There has been a direct co-relation between BJP’s
electoral success and communal tension across the country. The BJP IT cell and several other Hindutva affiliates spread all sorts of rumours and propaganda on social media.
There has been a direct co-relation between BJP’s electoral success and communal tension across the country.
One organisation whose name has cropped up in Bengal in every communal tension recently is the Hindu Samhati, a Hindutva affiliate, and its founder Tapan Ghosh, who is famous for writing provocative statements on Facebook. On Thursday, the state government banned both the Hindu Samhati and AIMIM from holding any rallies in the riot-hit region.
According to some reports, videos of roughly two hours’ duration were compiled by Hindutva workers and many were uploaded on YouTube. A YouTube channel named
HINDU Nationalist, for example, uploaded several videos that got thousands of hits but were later blocked.
Videos soon started circulating on WhatsApp. In one such video, a young man was riding pillion on a bike as he was recording videos on alleged “Hindu plight”.
Presumably after state BJP leaders met the governor and showed the videos, he had called the chief minister. The governor has publicly been called by a BJP secretary as a “dedicated soldier” of “Modi Vahini”.
Rumours of rapes and murders, attacks on temples, etc. were spread fast on social media. When they could not find real videos of attacks (except of a huge crowd shouting slogans and charred vehicles and properties), the BJP troll army did not even shy away from using shots from a Bhojpuri film to present it as an attempted case of rape.
Alt News has also unearthed a few other photos circulating on social media, particularly one presented as parents of the young boy who wrote the Facebook post as severely beaten (without research though, as the young boy’s mother passed away long ago).
A photo was circulated on social media of the “parents” of the young boy who wrote the Facebook post, and showing them as severely beaten, even though the boy’s mother passed away long ago.
Many non-Bengali Hindutva trolls tried to hit on Bengali pride, saying they are so weak that they can’t even protect themselves and their women; as they demanded President’s Rule in the state.
Soon, invocation to consolidate Hindu votes in Bengal to defeat Islamists began on social media, all over again. Some news channels who have been reduced to “glorified versions of Doordarshan” started running all sorts of provocative hashtags (on Friday night, the top trend was #NoMamataForHindus, and on Saturday it is #SaveBengal).
TMC chief spokesperson Derek O’Brien has rightly called the Sangh Parivar ‘Rumour Spreading Society’ (RSS),
criticising the role of the governor, BJP leaders and trolls in fomenting tension.
Meanwhile, as the media crew started visiting the place, in different Hindu localities small groups continued to express their anger, criticising the TMC leadership and urging for Hindu consolidation. This
Republic TV video appears to be a re-run of Dhulagarh when I visited the place in January after the communal riots during
Nabi Dibas.
A news website has, meanwhile,
reported how the local BJP office in Rudrapur under Basirhat sub-division that has opened recently is abuzz since the incident, and it quotes local leaders in jubilation over their rising popularity.
Basirhat is close to the Bangladesh border and a large number of people here are those who migrated from East Bengal during Partition or the 1971 wars. While the urban and semi-urban pockets mainly consist of Hindu population, a good number of them
Bangaal or migrants from East Bengal, the rural pockets are predominantly Muslim.
The BJP has made inroads into the area and in the 2011 Assembly election it had even won the Basirhat seat due to Muslim vote division in rural pockets between the Congress and CPI-M. In last year’s election, however, as the Congress and Left were in alliance, the Congress regained the seat.
Meanwhile, articles after articles are being pushed in media by Communist sympathisers and Hindutva apologists alike about the so-called appeasement politics of TMC and radicalisation (for some justifiable reasons) of Muslims in bordering districts (and overall?).
It is, however, the Sangh Parivar that is trying its best to consolidate Hindu voters. There are also
reports of RSS giving arms training to its cadre in recent months and their several affiliate organisations have invested heavily in recent years.
BJP president Amit Shah has on record said earlier that the party’s golden period will only come when they win Kerala, Odisha and Bengal. The saffron party fancies its best chance at the moment, when the other two main opposition parties in the state, the Left Front and the Congress, are at their lowest ebb.
A national media outlet had
quoted a national secretary of the party as saying: “We may not win Bengal in 2021, but there are bright chances to emerge as the number two party if we play our cards well.”
Communal forces have been trying to foment tension in the state for some time now, particularly in south Bengal. On the occasion of Ram Navami, for example, they created false reports of riots in Kidderpore after a few men, who were shouting “Jai Shri Ram” outside a mosque, were handed over to the police. In other areas as well, they have tried to provoke communal tension and reports of skirmishes. But an alert police intervened in time and prevented those from spreading.
On Tuesday, the “card” played by the Sangh Parivar was largely successful in exploiting its “institutionalised riot system”, with the help of social media and TV channels. The silver lining is that, despite all attempts, they have faced stiff resistance so far here from the Bengali population.
How Bengal is different and why it gives hope
On Tuesday night, as the news of riots spread, a young Bengali filmmaker, who is also a Facebook friend, enquired about the situation, and ended the conversation saying, “This is the time we all stand with one another... You're my brother, I am yours...”
As there have been reports of spread of the saffron brigade in the state, Bengal is looking inward in its attempt to bridge the gap between the two communities. There have been several grassroots initiatives of trying to build bridges, and programmes like “Know your neighbour” or protests under the banner of #NotInMyName are reflections of how Bengal is different and how BJP may find it difficult to implement its formula in the state.
In Dhulagarh, Hindus and Muslims came together to celebrate
Rabindra Jayanti in May, tied
rakhi to each other and sang Rabindra Sangeet.
Take the example of the Baduria-Basirhat tension itself. When a mob of about 200 people (most of them not from his own village) tried to torch his home, locals came to his rescue. According to
local media reports, the teenage boy Souvik Sarkar, whose mother had died long ago, was protected by Amirul Islam, an old neighbour who is also the president of the local mosque committee. Another person named Maqsud apparently called the fire brigade.
Hindus and Muslims of the village together tried to douse the house that was put on fire. A teacher of the government school at Magur Khola village, Tapan Halder, is quote in the media as saying: “On the day of the incident, the village Muslims had saved the family of Souvik. If the people were not there, the entire family would have been killed.”
In fact, not many in his village are convinced that Souvik would post that meme online and suspect that his Facebook account was used by Hindutva forces or that he was manipulated.
As someone who has covered communal tensions in Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and even recently in Dhulagarh, Basirhat clearly appears unique. On Monday-Tuesday there were clashes, but on Wednesday there were at least four-five peace marches, local all-party meetings, etc.
A peace mission was brought out in Baduria by locals, an all-party meeting was held in Swaroop Nagar police station, local counsellor of Basirhat, Chitra Ghosh, took a peace march that was attended by locals. In Taki, the chairman of the municipality, Somnath Mukharjee, and vice-chairman Azizul Haque together held an all-party meet. Some civil society members from Kolkata visited Basirhat and along with locals brought out a peace march with the slogan "Ram-Rahim bhai-bhai".
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On Thursday as well, a grand
bhoj or community meal was organised by the panchayat samiti at Matia Pulligram and Joypur Kalibari bazar where Hindus and Muslims together had a feast. By Thursday night, and particularly from Friday, the resistance from Bengalis was visible on social media as well, and a large number of those tweeting with those hashtags appeared to be non-Bengali trolls.
Statements by BJP spokespersons like Sambit Patra - that Hindus are not free to even perform Kali Puja and comparison with Kashmiri Pandits - or Meenakshi Lekhi - saying that Hindus from the state are scared - may backfire in the state as Bengalis are extremely conscious of their identity and proud of their heritage.
On Wednesday, CM Banerjee announced that her government will soon take the initiative to form a
Shanti Vahini or a Peace Force across 60,000 booths in the state that will comprise of local volunteers and aid the police in preventing any untoward incident.
Meanwhile, preparations are on in Kolkata for the annual “Martyr’s Day” rally of the TMC on July 21 that the West Bengal CM may use as her show of strength.
Source:
http://www.dailyo.in/politics/benga...p-rss-fake-news-mamata-tmc/story/1/18253.html
Amid Fake News Surrounding The Basirhat Riots, Emerge Stories Of Humanity
Slowly, Basirhat is coming back to normalcy.
LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES
Activists participate in a torch rally against the communal violence in Bengal.
Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a judicial probe into the communal clashes in the state's Basirhat area, reports suggest that Muslim neighbours are now pooling in money to help their Hindu neighbours whose shops and businesses were destroyed during rioting.
This comes even as social media is rife with fake videos and images being circulated showing that Hindus were being targeted by the Muslims. But the reality seems to be a bit different.
The Indian Express quoted a local businessman of Basirhat's Trimohini crossing as saying, "Even after the demolition of the Babri mosque, our town remained peaceful. What happened since Tuesday was not right. Some outsiders and some of our local boys are to blame. But now we are pooling money for our Hindu neighbours. We want them to forget the losses and start afresh."
Violence broke out in Basirhat, in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas bordering Bangladesh, after a blasphemous Facebook post by a Class 11 student. Peace is slowly returning to the area even as security forces remain vigilant and internet services remain cut off.
But as rumours of great Hindu-Muslim enmity took centre stage, a local Binay Pal says that he escaped a mob because of his childhood friend Ershad.
Pal tells The Indian Express, "Everyone told me to leave my home and flee to save myself. Hundreds of people were swarming the street in front of my house. I called up Ershad, who told me to stay put and rushed to my house. He stayed with us and ensured that we were safe."
The report said that joint groups of Hindus and Muslims were also going to keep vigil at night to ensure there is no further flare up.
PTI had reported on Saturday that shops had reopened and vehicles were seen plying in violence-hit areas.
This was even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that outsiders were involved in the violence and that the Modi government was destroying the federal structure of the nation.
She said, "How can some people from across the border intrude and start disruptions here? Who is in charge of border security, the Centre or the state? Once again I am saying, it is the ploy of the BJP to disturb the peace of the state."
She also said that action will be taken against two national TV channels for showing fake footage, claiming they were from Basirhat.
As pointed out by
Altnews.in, several images are being circulated on social media with people claiming that they were from Basirhat.
One of the images doing the rounds was that of a man trying to disrobe a woman, and people had been claiming that it was how Hindu women were being treated in West Bengal. In reality, it was a scene from the Bhojpuri film '
Aurat Khilona Nahi'.
NDTV reported the Kolkata Police as saying that one person had been arrested for circulating the fake image.
And even as the West Bengal police condemned sharing of such fake videos and warned of action, more such fake images were being shared.
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West Bengal Police
✔@WBPolice
Some people are posting old videos of other countries/regions as incidents of West Bengal. This is highly condemnable...(1/2)
4:53 PM - 7 Jul 2017
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West Bengal Police
✔@WBPolice
(2/2)...Please check Facts with us.We appeal to all not to pay heed to these malicious videos aimed at creating mistrust among communities.
4:54 PM - 7 Jul 2017
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As recently as on Saturday, BJP's Nupur Sharma shared a photo on Twitter that called for protests against the 'lawlessness' in Bengal. The image used in the tweet seems to be from the Gujarat riots, a photo taken by Manish Sharma of the Associated Press.
View image on Twitter
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Nupur Sharma
✔@NupurSharmaBJP
Speak-up because it is already too late! Join in at 5 PM today at Jantar Mantar
#SaveBengal #SaveHindus
11:30 AM - 8 Jul 2017
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/0...es-hum_a_23022326/?ncid=fcbklnkinhpmg00000001
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