In Bengal, where progress ends, polarisation around the corner

About 90 km away in Asansol, Harshwardhan Gupta, a second-generation businessman in the first and only air-conditioned market in the town, flags “Hindu-Muslim tension” as one of the major election issues in West Bengal. But, he frames it differently. While there is tension between the two communities at the political level, he says there is a strong sense of community at the local level. “My father is in the hospital, and we need blood right now. In the morning, when I asked for two units of blood, two people who came forward were Muslims,” he says.

The story of West Bengal’s politics is a complex narrative of glitzy development in many parts and communal disharmony in some, with both visible and top of the mind for many. And both dominate mind space in an increasingly aspirational and contested political landscape.

As The Indian Express travelled through Bankura, Purulia, Asansol, Durgapur, and Bardhaman, a landscape dotted with roads and highways and buildings under construction came into view. The roads connecting Purulia, Asansol, Durgapur, and Bardhaman have improved in the last decade or so, with national highways smoothing bumpy rides. Even state highways have improved, with pitched roads in West Bengal that were not there about 12 years ago.

One of the common words heard across rural areas is the pride with which residents talk about “pitch” roads — metalled roads that have connected parts of West Bengal. “There are not big showpiece expressways like in other states like UP, but Bengal has paved roads connecting many villages and rural areas that benefits the local people immensely,” says Biswajit Haldar, a West Bengal Police official.

When it comes to rural roads, the BJP claims that the Modi government constructed over 21,000 km of rural roads in West Bengal. West Bengal has seen substantial improvements in its highway network. Since 2014, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has constructed over 1,200 km of roads in the state, with an additional 2,171 km upgraded and improved in the past ten years, BJP has said in its campaign.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) also claims credit for improving state highways and rural roads. “After Mamata Banerjee came to power, we invested in developing roads and the four-laning of highways. That has generated economic activity, with goods being transported. A chain reaction started and now you have malls, cineplexes, hotels, and tourist resorts in the state, especially in Purulia,” says Tanmoy Ghosh, the TMC state general secretary in charge of Purulia.

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee campaigning ahead of the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

But, moving away from the highways and into people’s drawing rooms, the conversation almost always veers into Hindu-Muslim issues apart from the lack of development in the state. And the language used by many is often coarse and toxic as many talk about the TMC’s “Muslim appeasement” and the BJP’s fuelling of a more muscular response from Hindus. In local conversations, it has been framed as TMC’s appeasement politics versus BJP’s empowering of Hindus. Across this region of the state, apart from the TMC flags, the flags of Ram Mandir and Hanuman are also seen fluttering from lamp posts.

“Minority appeasement” is a common talking point in rural and urban households. Prabhat Mahato, a panchayat official in Purulia’s Jhalda block, says that Hindu-Muslim tension has emerged as a major issue at the local level. And the narrative of the TMC giving preferential treatment to Muslims seems to have taken hold in many people’s minds. The Sandeshkhali case in which TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan is the primary accused and Mamata Banerjee’s response have cast a shadow on the ruling party’s reputation.

The language too is toxic and has permeated in people’s conversations. A central government employee in Asansol alleges Muslims receive preferential treatment from the local police at the behest of the TMC. Abeer Dutta, a businessman in Durgapur who has a factory that produces iron sheets, talks about the “Miya vote”. Another bank professional in Bardhaman talks about the “Mullah vote”.

West Bengal, a state with about 27% Muslims, is witnessing a political churn and the TMC-BJP contest for influence is pivoted on the tensions between the two communities. Both parties are jockeying for influence and votes from the two communities.

“Why is there always talk about Muslim appeasement?” asks Rehana Noor, a bank professional in Durgapur. “Muslims in the state are the backbone of the economy and are in almost every trade. They are contributing as AC mechanics and carpenters to professionals in banks and big companies. So they have a fair share in the society. Why is any outreach seen as a dole to the community, while not a dole for the others?”

Shamshuddin Ahmed, a government schoolteacher in Bardhaman, says there has been a sense of amity between the two communities and points to the dog whistle by BJP leaders in the election campaign. At an election rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress, if voted to power, could distribute the nation’s wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.

But a public prosecutor for the state government who wished to remain anonymous points to Mamata Banerjee’s comments at an election rally in Hooghly district where she targeted a monk of the Hindu religious order Bharat Sevashram Sangha. The CM accused the monk, Kartick Maharaj, of involvement in the Beldanga riots in Murshidabad during a Ram Navami procession last month. This has rankled many in the state.

In Purulia, TMC’s candidate Santiram Mahato doesn’t talk about the development of his constituency. He is countering the BJP on the issue of religious polarisation. “The BJP is raising the issue of Hindus and Muslims. That has become their main agenda. We are countering that by saying religion is not the job of the government.”

Down the Purulia-Dhanbad-Jamshedpur National Highway-18, away from this debate, locals proudly show off an aeroplane standing along the highway in Imondi, Purulia. They say that a restaurant is being built inside the aircraft. “A restaurant like this was not possible earlier. People even in small towns now have some money in their hands and they want to live a better life,” says Surendranath Tudu, an English teacher at a West Bengal government-run school who is from from the local tribal community.