Mother, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing
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The Sangh Parivar, which came to power in Bengal with the unwavering support of the Election Commission, after the voter list was purged of people including descendants of freedom fighters, the family of an army officer injured while fighting for India in the Kargil War, and a newspaper editor critical of the government on the grounds of citizenship, is turning power into a celebration of atrocities. The first BJP government in the soil of Bengal, led by Suvendu Adhikari had already begun its crackdown on Muslims even before it was sworn in. Throughout the election campaign, the leaders of Hindutva India spread the message through speeches steeped in communal hatred that the very presence of Muslims was dangerous and unnecessary for the country. Activists celebrated by riding bulldozers and demolishing businesses and beef stalls belonging to Muslim minorities, proclaiming the arrival of change. Attacks on mosques, murders, destruction of businesses and assaults on street vendors have all become part of life in Bengal within just two months. Muslims in the state observed Eid-ul-Adha in the last week of May under the shadow of fear and threats. The government imposed unprecedented restrictions on prayers, sacrifices and the use of loudspeakers. Although the decades-long Left rule had done little for the welfare and development of poor Muslims such as rickshaw pullers and water carriers, it did ensure their right to live. Mamata Banerjee, who succeeded the Left, ensured political representation for Muslims, implemented welfare schemes and demonstrated a firm resolve to keep communal forces at bay.
Now every step taken by the BJP government declares that those days are over. The motive behind the audacity to deny government benefits, including ration and pension, to people whose names were unjustly removed from the voter list is also clear. This is not merely a hunt against minorities but a declaration of war on the country's sovereignty and the civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The new government is attempting to destroy Bengal's cultural identity, rooted in the humanism envisioned by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, and replace it with the extreme communalism associated with north India. While pursuing the alienation of Muslims, the government has now turned its attention to Christians too. Anti-Christian violence had already begun to rise in May when the government came to power. The media trivialised as isolated incidents the detention at a police station of women and children, among others, for holding a prayer meeting at a house in Bankura in the western part of the state, and the attack on the home of a widow in Murshidabad by those demanding that she hand over her property for the construction of a temple.
Now, however, churches themselves have become the target. Worshippers at Subhash Gram in Sonarpur arrived for prayers last Sunday only to find the church vandalised and the altar desecrated. The attackers, who also destroyed the church's musical instruments belonging to the Mizo Synod, wrote threats on the walls warning of further violence if Christian congregations continued their activities. In Purba Bardhaman district, assailants entered Grace Church in Faridpur while the service was in progress and assaulted the pastor and worshippers. Civil rights activists point out that the Sangh Parivar has spread false propaganda alleging mass religious conversions, creating vicious suspicion among students and parents and even towards teachers in Christian-run schools. The decision to hand over the state's mid-day meal scheme in schools to the Hare Krishna movement and the removal of eggs from school menus have also raised concerns that communal interests are being imposed forwaking children's nutritional security. Experiences from BJP-ruled states, from Gujarat to Odisha, show that the push to enact anti-conversion laws and implement the Uniform Civil Code without addressing the basic problems of the people is driven by an agenda targeting Christian and Muslim communities.
It must be said that those who attack Christians by portraying them as outsiders and enemies are either ignorant of the country's past or choose to ignore it. The contribution of Christian educational institutions to Bengal's intellectual and cultural growth is unparalleled. If one asks which is the best college in Kolkata, the answer has always been, and continues to be, St Xavier's College. Has the RSS, even after completing a century, rendered even one-hundredth of the service to the nation that Mother Teresa did by restoring dignity to people abandoned on the streets because of leprosy and bringing education and healthcare to slums and villages? The answer is a clear no. Those who persecute the spiritual descendants of Mother Teresa - who saw the presence of God in the wounded and embraced them - by accusing them of religious conversion are committing an unforgivable crime. If Bengal, the land of Mother Teresa and other great people who strove for a dawn where one could cherish the voice of one's own and that of others like music, has changed so profoundly in just two months, what will become of it in the days ahead under Sangh Parivar rule?