AA Edit | WB Hotbed of Communal Forces, Govt Must Act Now

West Bengal appears to be preparing a communal cauldron out of itself from which vested interests of all shades are hoping to tap their share of votes in next year’s Assembly elections. It will be a win-win situation for communalists sitting on either side of the divide and a total loss for secularism and democracy if the recipe is allowed to cook. It’s time for all those who have faith in the idea of India to take action as their failure could be devastating for a people who have suffered more than their fair share of tragedy and disasters, man-made and otherwise, in two centuries.

There are legitimate reasons for secular-minded people and the Muslims to agitate against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, but there are political, legal and parliamentary avenues to express them.

Organisations across the country have been holding protest meetings against the law, while many have moved the Supreme Court against the legislation. The Supreme Court is scheduled to take up a clutch of writ petitions against the law, alleging violation of the Constitution.

Whichever way the court decides the case, there is still space for the civil society to express its opinion.

However, what we see in parts of West Bengal is Islamists making use of the democratic space for protest to deliberately incite violence. If one were to go by the reports about the incidents in Murshidabad district, some even suggest active aid and abetment of Islamist terrorist organisations from across the border. It cannot be that these Islamist organisations don’t know that violence cannot advance minority causes. It is also not a fact that they are unaware of the end result that will be undermining of the secular polity. All they want is to play the victim card and get more sympathy out of sections of people. Communal formations cannot survive a secular system, and hence these attempts.

Likewise, it is no one’s contention that the Hindutva forces are sitting quietly amidst this outrage. Only their efforts to flare up communal passions are led by people sitting in responsible positions in the government. Union minister of state for labour and president of the BJP state body Sukanta Majumdar is accused of tweeting fake images of communal violence and then quietly deleting those when people objected.

The state government has its task cut out at such a time, namely, implement the law with all the forces at its command. It appears that the Mamata Banerjee-led government simply failed in its job first to anticipate the trouble and take precautionary measures, and then to arrest the rioters using the law enforcement machinery. The ground rules are simple in such a situation plus there is precedence. Former chief minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu is quoted to have issued orders to the Bengal police “to shoot at all rioters; their political affiliations don’t matter” in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition.

Ms Banerjee may be anti-Marxist but needs to take a leaf from his book if she wishes to minimise further violence.