Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 2, 2007
Taslima thrown out to take Nandigram mess
off the radar
Was the recent violence witnessed in some
parts of central Kolkata, leading to dissident Bangladeshi writer Taslima
Nasreen's forced eviction from the city, genuine Muslim anger or manufactured
rage? Did the CPI(M) have a hand in organising the rioting? Who has gained
the most after mobs took to the streets?
For possible answers, we need to step back
and take a look at the sequence of events beginning with the CPI(M)'s smash-and-grab
of Nandigram.
When the Marxists let loose a reign of terror
in the villages of Nandigram in end-October, ratcheting it up in the first
week of November, to recapture territory they had lost to the Bhoomi Uchchhed
Pratirodh Committee protesting acquisition of farmland for an Indonesian SEZ,
they had not bargained for extensive and sustained negative publicity in media.
The CPI(M)'s Nandigram takeover strategy was
based on the doctrine of shock and awe, that is, rapid dominance through the
use of overwhelming force. Marxist cadre were deployed to block entry to Nandigram
and newspersons were chased away. It was hoped that this would prevent media
from putting out details.
In the event, the media coverage of Nandigram
was beyond anything the CPI(M) could have imagined and hugely damaging for
the party. Newspapers and channels across the country picked up the story,
as did foreign agencies. The fact that most of the victims of the Marxist
mayhem were Muslims painted the CPI(M) in lurid colours.
With Muslim organisations, till now favourably
disposed towards the CPI(M), beginning to voice their protest -- Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind
said "Muslims in West Bengal are worse off than in Gujarat" - Marxist
leaders, yet to recover from being pilloried over police harassment of Rizwanur
Rehmanand his death in mysterious circumstances, found themselves scampering
for cover.
Seeking to capitalise on Nandigram, Jamiat
Ulama-i-Hind called a three-hour shutdown in central Kolkata on November 15.
There was moderate response to the call, disrupting Kolkata's usually chaotic
traffic, but there was no violence.
The next day, Pashchim Banga Milli Ittehad
Parishad, comprising 12 Muslim organisations, including Jamiat Ulama- i-Hind,
Milli Council, Indian National League, Jamiat-e- Islami Hind and All-India
Minority Forum, called a four- hour shutdown. Once again, apart from fiery
speeches, the protest was unremarkable. Traffic was stalled at Esplanade,
Park Circus, AJC Bose Road and Kidderpore. Not that traffic moves smoothly
in these areas otherwise.
Suddenly, the All-India Minority Forum, led
by Idris Ali, former head of the local Congress minority cell and a serial
'public interest' litigant in Kolkata High Court, called a three-hour shutdown
on November 21 to protest against "Marxist atrocities on Muslims in Nandigram"
and demand the "expulsion of Taslima Nasreen from Kolkata".
On the day of the shutdown, mobs emerged from
Muslim- dominated areas, many of them in CPI(M) leader and West Bengal Assembly
Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim's constituency, Entally, and went berserk, torching
vehicles and attacking policemen. Within no time, news channels across the
country were broadcasting live footage of the violence.
The footage showed mobs on the rampage and
Kolkata Police personnel on the retreat. In one particular shot, a policeman
was seen loading a teargas shell and then not firing it as a mob, waving swords
and chanting slogans,
advanced menacingly.
At none of the places that witnessed violence
was the mob larger than 100 hooligans. If the police had wanted to, they could
have chased away the mobs. But they didn't. It was almost as if they had been
instructed not to act.
Surprisingly, the State Government, which
later claimed to have been taken by surprise, promptly called in the Army
and imposed curfew. This, too, made headlines as the Army's help had not been
sought in West Bengal for the past 15 years although there had been worse
incidents of violence.
In sharp contrast to the prompt deployment
of the Army in Kolkata, the Left Front Government had refused to deploy CRPF
personnel in Nandigram. When CRPF personnel were finally allowed in days after
the Marxists had taken over Nandigram, they were not given the power to enforce
law and order.
It took less than an hour for the Army to
clear out the violence-hit streets and restore order. By early evening, calm
had returned and life in Kolkata was back to normal, barring the dusk-to-dawn
curfew in a few areas. Briefing newspersons on the violence, CPI(M) politburo
member and State party secretary Biman Bose said if Nasreen "should leave
Kolkata if her stay disturbs the peace".
What he did not explain was the ease with
which mobs had been mobilised by an unheard of organisation and the listless
behaviour of the State police. Neither Idris Ali nor his All-India Minority
Forum could have organised the crowds. The Forum had already participated
in the protest organised by Pashchim Banga Milli Ittehad Parishad and there
was no reason for Ali to call a separate shutdown.
Those who track the CPI(M)'s dirty tricks
department believe that Ali may have been "encouraged" to call a
shutdown and highlight the "Muslim demand" for Nasreen's expulsion
from Kolkata. He may have been the proverbial cat's paw. Apart from him, four
men may have played a crucial role in securing for the CPI(M) an escape route
from the Nandigram mess: Aslam alias Pappu, Ruhul Amin, Sultan Ahmed and Iqbal
Ahmed. Aslam, a resident of Alimuddin Street, where the CPI(M)'s State headquarters
are located, is a "property dealer" known for his links with the
CPI(M). Amin lives in Topsia, has CPI(M) links and a dubious profile. Sultan,
a resident of Ripon Street who has switched loyalties from the Congress to
the Trinamool, is "open to persuasion if the price is right". His
brother Ibal has done a reverse switch though his services are "not strictly
restricted to the Congress". On November 21, mob fury was seen in the
Ripon Street and Topsia areas, apart from Park Circus.
By the morning of November 22, media focus
had shifted from Nandigram to the rioting. That day Nasreen was put on a flight
to Jaipur and since then, newspapers and 24x7 channels, especially in West
Bengal, have front-paged and prime-timed stories about the CPI(M) "giving
in to Muslim demands". Nobody is talking about the CPI(M)'s "atrocities
on Muslims in Nandigram" anymore.
Yesterday's 'persecutor' has become today's
'appeaser'.