Anti-Waqf Act protests in West Bengal have turned violent. The violence continues even now. A large section of Hindus have been forced to migrate after two members of their community were lynched. Their houses and other properties were set ablaze. It was only after the Calcutta High Court ordered the deployment of central security forces that some order was restored. But sporadic incidents of violence are still being reported. Murshidabad is a predominantly Muslim majority district with 66 per cent Muslim population and the anti-Waqf Act violence here was the worst.
Quite intriguingly, the entire Congress leadership at the centre, including president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi have maintained complete silence over the anti-Waqf Act protest violence, targeting the Hindus, who are living in a minority there.
The Congress party did not even issue a token condemnation against the violence that has eventually led to migration of Hindus from their ancestral places, making them refugees in their own country. This is quite similar to what happened with the Kashmiri Hindus, who are still living as “refugees” in their own country as they cannot go back to the land they belong to.
Compared to that, the Congress has continuously been raising the issue of Manipur violence and rightly so. The situation in Manipur did call for serious attention, as there was complete communal polarisation and confrontation that cost Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh his job. Manipur right now is under the President’s rule. The Congress did manage to build up enough pressure on the Central government that it was forced to not only remove the Chief Minister, but impose President’s rule to bring the situation under control.
While the situation in West Bengal is certainly not like Manipur and the extent of violence is limited to a few places only, violence is violence and condemnable irrespective of who the perpetrator and victim are.
Two innocent people were lynched by the anti-Waqf Act protesters, just because they belonged to a particular community. The lynching was obviously done to create fear among the entire community, as a result of which, they were forced to leave their homes.
It is intriguing as to why the Congress maintained such a stone silence over the violence. The Congress is opposed to the passage of the Waqf Amendment Act and it presented a forceful opposition in both the houses of the Parliament. It is well within its rights to support people who are opposing the Waqf Act through mass protests in different parts of the country. But should the party condone violence with its silence?
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The Bharatiya Janata Party has cornered the Congress because of this. The BJP’s criticism of the Congress’ silence is understandable. Even sections of Congress supporters are surprised as to why the Congress has been so reluctant in condemning the violence. There appear to be two reasons -one the Congress does not want to be seen criticising and condemning the anti-Waqf Act protesters, even when they resorted to violence and killing of innocent and second, it probably also does not want to be seen to be taking up the cause of the Hindus. Otherwise, nothing else explains Congress’ silence over the lynching of the two people by the anti-Waqf Act protesters.
When Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who is the son of Chief Minister MK Stalin gave a controversial statement that the Sanatan Dharam deserves to be wiped out, the party that time also did not condemn it. Rather, senior party leader from Tamil Nadu and former union Home Minister P Chidambaram defended Stalin.
In the age of free flow of communication and information, through multiple media channels, both traditional and modern, the message gets across instantly. Every other person knows that the Congress preferred silence over condemnation on killings.
Such messaging and posturing will come at a heavy cost for the Congress. By projecting itself in a way where it is seen to be indifferent towards the plight of the Hindus, the Congress cannot afford a full-fledged revival and bank completely on the minorities.
Because, even such extreme posturing does not help the Congress, which still is not the first preference for the Muslim voters.
The case of Baharampur parliamentary result is an example that should make the Congress think and realise about its messaging. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress candidate from there, who had represented the constituency for five consecutive terms and also served as Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha in the previous house, was defeated by Yousuf Pathan, Trinamool Congress candidate, who had specially been picked up from Gujarat.
Chowdhury got defeated in the Muslim majority Baharampur with 52 per cent Muslim voters, as the majority of voters chose a newcomer, probably with least interest in politics, Pathan, just because he belonged to their “own” community.
The Congress has been going extra mile to win over the Muslim votes, but the party still is not the first preference for Muslim voters as was evident in Baharampur and also in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where the Muslim voters prefer Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal over the Congress.
Avoiding a comment, leave aside condemning it, on Murshidabad violence is bad messaging, something Congress, a secular party, needs to think seriously, unless it wants to be seen as “pro-minority” only.
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