Farmers Movement Archive

Hathras, Bhadohi incidents bolster TMC’s agenda to win back BJP’s Dalit votes in Bengal

Back to back killing of Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh has added a twist to caste politics in West Bengal with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) seeing an opportunity to reach out to backward class voters who supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in several of the 18 Lok Sabha seats the party won in 2019. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will hit the streets in Kolkata on Saturday to raise the issue and target the BJP. This will be her first rally since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March. TMC leaders will hold protests in every community block in the districts. The campaign started on Friday afternoon when the TMC’s media cell in Bengal crowded the social media with videos of its four MPs grappling with policemen about a kilometre away from the Hathras victim’s village. The team was led by TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien and included Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. Also read: Yogi Adityanath suspends Hathras SP, wants narco-analysis testsHowever, it was the presence of the Joynagar Lok Sabha MP Pratima Mondal and former Bongaon Lok Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur and their heated exchange with the UP police that had a political significance in West Bengal. While Mondal belongs to the scheduled caste community, Thakur is a member of the Matua community, which is part of Bengal’s Dalit population. Both alleged that they were manhandled. “The team was sent by our leader Mamata Banerjee,” said a senior TMC leader who did not want to be named. Once treated as untouchables, the ancestors of the majority of the Namasudras (Dalits) in the state originally hailed from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and migrated to West Bengal after 1947 to escape religious persecution. There are about 10 million people from the Namasudra community in Bengal. During the 2011 census, Bengal’s population stood at 91.3 million. Part of this Dalit population is the Matua community which is headed by its supreme body, All India Matua Mahasangha. The Mahasangha played host to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Thakurnagar in North 24-Parganas district before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Contesting on a BJP ticket, the sect’s young face, Shantanu Thakur, defeated his aunt, TMC’s Mamata Bala Thakur, at the Bongaon seat. After Partition, the Matuas relocated to West Bengal and became the state’s second-most influential scheduled caste community with an estimated population of more than three million. Also read: Allow politicians in Hathras, tweets ‘elder sister’ Uma Bharti to YogiAccording to estimates by ruling and opposition parties, the Dalit communities can influence poll results in more than 50 of the states’ 294 assembly seats. Most of these seats are located in districts along the India-Bangladesh border.  Horrors continue, yet the "CHOWKIDARS" are asleep. Now, Bhadohi witnesses a vicious act of violence with another young-dalit girl, ironically on the eve of Non-violence day.This is @BJP4India’s Uttar Pradesh — where the rule of law ends & the rule of upper-caste savages begins. pic.twitter.com/SS2Mob4eDqChief minister’s nephew and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee took the lead in targeting the BJP even before the TMC team tried to reach Hathras. “Horrors continue, yet the “CHOWKIDARS” are asleep. Now, Bhadohi witnesses a vicious act of violence with another young-dalit girl, ironically on the eve of Non-violence day. This is @BJP4India’s Uttar Pradesh — where the rule of law ends & the rule of upper-caste savages begins,” he tweeted. “What a shame @narendramodi ji that an @AITCofficial Lok Sabha MP & representative of the SC community Pratima Mondal was manhandled by male officers of @Uppolice. HAS IT BECOME A TREND IN UP TO DISRESPECT SC WOMEN @myogiadityanath? #ShameOnYogi #HathrasHorror #DalitLivesMatter,” tweeted the TMC. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh refused to give any importance to the TMC’s agitation. “This is drama. Hundreds of women are raped and murdered in Bengal but no TMC leader cares to visit their homes,” Ghosh said at a rally held in support of the farm bills. The BJP leader, however, condemned the Hathras incident, saying the culprits should be punished. The backward class vote bank is crucial for both the TMC and the BJP in the run-up to the assembly polls, a ruling party leader said on condition of anonymity. Before the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP, which always had a refugee cell, carried out an extensive campaign on the then proposed citizenship law in Bengal to reach out to Hindus who left Bangladesh as refugees. Realising the importance of this vote bank, the TMC too launched its refugee cell in January this year. The cell now has units in all districts.

Hindustan Times

02-10-2020

India