If anybody cares about the Constitution, they should, on Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar’s Jayanti, focus on how the constitutional order has collapsed in West Bengal. India has been plagued by communal riots ever since the British Raj. Partition took place primarily to bring an end to the hostility between Hindus and Muslims. However, it did not solve the problem because creation of an inclusive Indian identity has been prevented by the obsession with vote politics. Politicians have cynically exploited, even encouraged, insecurities to corral voters as votebanks.
This does not mean, however, that the Indian state has not, by reason of its very existence, reduced considerably the extent of damage that can be done by rioters. In most states and where there is an intent to curb criminal behaviour, all the power of modern-day technology and systems are used to ensure there is an effective response. When there is whataboutery, for instance, about riots taking place in UP also, people forget that in the present Yogi dispensation, violence takes place despite the efforts to implement rule of law. In a state like West Bengal, however, riots happen because of government policies. Minority appeasement is a cliché often used by the BJP when commenting on Congress style governance, but it still is very much a reality. The pursuit of unity in diversity does not include pampering or accommodating those who deliberately exploit their ‘special status’.
While the Congress is presently suffering the consequences of its past mistakes, this policy has been taken to its extreme by the Mamata Banerjee led TMC in West Bengal. Pandering to ‘minority’ interests may be a necessity in a state that is seeing an increase in Muslim population, not least because of illegal immigration from Bangladesh, but this can be done positively by providing education, health care, and job opportunities. Instead, as recent incidents in Sandheshkhali and Murshidabad have shown, the state government has handed over power to extremist groups as a trade for electoral support. Nothing can be more ironic than Hindus having to migrate in independent, powerful and secular India to escape rape and murder. It is almost a repeat of what happened in the nineties in the Kashmir Valley.
People may ask why the otherwise heavy-handed Modi Government is not imposing President’s Rule in the state. A cynical take would be that it does not wish Mamata Banerjee to benefit from any sympathy factor in the next assembly elections. For that goal, the sacrifice of a few hundred Hindus would be a small price to pay!
