Murshidabad: Is there an 'external hand' behind the violence?

Trinamool Congress’s Farakka MLA Manirul Islam’s Samserganj residence was vandalised by the mob on Saturday (April 12) night, forcing his family to flee home.

‘Not communal violence’

“It was not exactly a communal violence. Everyone, irrespective of Hindus and Muslims, came under attack. The intention of the vandals was just to create lawlessness,” Islam told The Federal.

The office of TMC’s Jangipur MP Khalilur Rahaman was also not spared.

Also read: BSF officials visit violence-hit areas of Murshidabad, assure locals of safety

Even police admit that of the victims, at least 20 per cent are from the minority community.

One such victim was Humayun Momin, a 40-year-old sweet shop owner at Dhulian Bazar. His shop was vandalised and looted on Friday (April 11) as a group of armed protestors randomly started targeting whatever they could lay their hands on in the market, Momin recalled, narrating his ordeal to media persons.

“Miscreants from Bangladesh taking advantage of the porous border in Jangipur area could have infiltrated among the protestors to create disturbance here,” another TMC MLA of the district Humayun Kabir claimed, dittoing a possibility that the intelligence agencies are also examining.

Role of ‘external hands’

“One just requires crossing the Padma River to reach Murshidabad district from Bangladesh’s Rajshahi division. It's a riverine border, so there is no fencing,” Kabir said.

In fact, an internal report of the Border Security Force’s intelligence wing also reportedly hinted towards the role of “external hands” behind the carnage.

The agencies see a similar pattern to Bangladesh violence in the brutal hacking of father and son duo to death and burning of police vehicles in Murshidabad.

Also read: Murshidabad riots: Situation under control, say police

“There should be a thorough investigation of the larger conspiracy behind the violence. The intelligence agencies should unearth the ploy,” Kabir said over phone while touring the affected areas as a confidence-building measure.

The BJP, too, in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.

Security lapses

The core question that has been raised by the conspiracy theory is that how the outsiders could mingle with the local protestors and why they were not detected either by the police or the organisers of the protests?

Even many in the TMC, such as Humayun Kabir, blame the party and the police for the lapses.

“The unfortunate event could have been avoided if the police were more alert and our elected representatives of the area were in touch with the organisers of the protests,” Kabir said.

There is a general sense, which even prevails among a section of the TMC, that the party scored a self-goal by taking for granted that protests against Waqf by minorities will not turn violent.

Watch: Waqf Act violence in Bengal: Who gains from the chaos?

The thin deployment of police at the protest sites on Friday to deal with any untoward incident was a blatant miscalculation of the situation. The police should have been more vigilant, as anti-Waqf protestors had clashed with police in the district’s Jangipur area on April 8. It should have served as a forewarning.

Why TMC failed to rein in protests

But on that ill-fated Friday, only 480 personnel of specialised Rapid Action Force and Eastern Frontier Rifles and 300 members of the general force were deployed, it is reliably learnt, to control violence at Jangipur and Dhuliyan. As expected, they were outnumbered by the protestors that went berserk.

Even politically, the party has miserably failed to read the situation and take appropriate precautionary measures, said Kolkata-based political commentator Md Saduddin, who is a native of Murshidabad district.

The political failure is largely because of the infighting within the TMC’s district unit and the failure of the party high command to tackle factionalism.

Many TMC leaders claim that the party initially assigned the disgruntled MLA Kabir the role of pacemaker after the first spark of tension in the district on April 8.

They question Kabir’s role as a peacemaker citing that only a month ago he was showcased by the TMC for making provocative communal statements.

Kabir as 'peacemaker'

Moreover, a sulking Kabir was recently approached by Asaduddin Owaisi to join All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. The AIMIM is planning to contest “as many seats as possible” in next year’s assembly elections in West Bengal.

Also read: Murshidabad riots: BJP flooding Net with fake photos, videos, says TMC

“We are currently conducting surveys to identify the constituencies where we can put up candidates,” said M Hoque, a state leader of the AIMIM.

There is no denying that just like the BJP, the AIMIM also tends to gain politically if there is a communal polarisation in the state, Saduddin said.

Kabir said he has turned down the offer as he has no intention of quitting the TMC. In Bengal politics, the Bharatpur MLA is, however, known as a party hopper. He made his assembly debut as a Congress legislator in 2011. After his resignation from the Congress in 2012, he joined the TMC. In the 2016 Assembly election, he contested as an independent candidate after being expelled from the party. He joined the BJP in 2018, only to return to the TMC ahead of 2021 Assembly elections.

Many in the TMC allege privately that Kabir is acting at cross-purpose with the party.

Kabir again denied that he was given any peace-making role in the district, asserting that there would have been no violence had he been given the charge.

He blamed Jangipur MP and other TMC MLAs for the violence, alleging that they were inactive.

Repeat of Bangladesh horror?

“I don’t think it is essential to even comment on what he (Kabir) blabbers,” TMC’s Samsarganj MLA Amirul Islam retorted, dropping a broad hint about the existence of rift in the party’s Murshidabad district unit.

Also read: Murshidabad riots: Hundreds flee, take shelter in Malda

For the party, the violence in Murshidabad could have serious political implications.

The scene of Hindus fleeing their homes and taking shelter in the neighbouring Malda district undeniably could have a potential connection with the BJP’s narrative that Hindus in West Bengal will soon meet the same fate as Hindus in Bangladesh. Around 400 Hindu residents were displaced by the Murshidabad violence. Some of them have started returning as there has been no fresh untoward incident in the last 36 hours.

Nevertheless, as a political optics, the narrative could haunt the TMC in the upcoming elections if a strong sense of religious co-existence is not restored immediately.