There are two routes to Sandeshkhali in West Bengal. One takes you through a Hindu-Muslim divide. The other through the acquisition-deprivation divide. Both stories are compelling and powerful.
In the first story, the name of the villain is Trinamool leader Sheikh Shahjahan, and the victims are the Hindu women. The story fits into the long tale of Muslim attacks on the hapless Hindu whenever and wherever the Hindu is weak or in a minority, be it in Bangladesh, Pakistan or places such as Sandeshkhali. The strength of this story reinforces a sweeping narrative that has gained traction in West Bengal in recent years, restoring the festering wounds of Partition. The problem is that in Sandeshkhali the story is not only partial but also false. The immediate perpetrators of alleged crimes against women here are Uttam Sardar and Shibaprasad Hazra, both non-Muslims. The third is Ajit Maity, whom the villagers of Sandeshkhali attacked last week.
Under public pressure, Mamata Banerjee’s police arrested all three men, though Sheikh was absconding. That he had been spared for so long helped to feed the allegation of Ms. Banerjee’s Muslim ‘appeasement’ with an eye to the forthcoming elections. Hindus are all but in ‘minority’ in both Sandeshkhali blocks: 70% in one and 77% in the other, mostly belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
