Union minister’s car attacked, 5 dead in 8 days; Why does Bengal catch fire in every election?

18, 7, and 16… these may seem like numbers to you, but this is the number of people killed in the last 3 panchayat elections in West Bengal. With the commencement of nominations in Bengal this time too, there has been an uproar during the panchayat elections.

According to the reports, so far 5 people have been killed in the last 8 days, while 90 people have been injured. There have been more than 30 incidents of violent clashes. The opposition party is blaming the ruling Trinamool Congress for the violence.

On Saturday, miscreants attacked the car of Union Minister of State for Home Nishith Pramanik in Coochbehar with arrows. In view of the violent incidents in the state, the Calcutta High Court has ordered to call the Central Force.

Violence and elections under the supervision of the central force are not new to Bengal. For the last 5 decades, the elections of Bengal have been bloody. In this story, let’s know the story of Bhadralok burning in politics…

How many deaths in political violence?
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told in the Lok Sabha in response to a question that in 2019, 12 cases related to political murder were registered in Bengal, while 13 families were affected by it. In 2018 also this figure was of 12 and 13 only.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) had said in its 2018 report that there were 12 murders in Bengal in 2018. The same report said that between 1999 and 2016, an average of 20 political murders took place in West Bengal every year. The maximum number of 50 murders took place in 2009.

Mamta Banerjee stopped giving data to NCRB from 2019, saying that she had defamed Bengal. About 13 people died in the violence that broke out after the Bengal assembly elections in 2021. The High Court had ordered a CBI inquiry into the whole matter.

History of political violence in Bengal
PS Banerjee writes in his research People, Power and Politics Violence – Gun and bomb culture started in Bengal in 1967. At that time, a clash had started between the workers of the Congress and the Left over dominance. During the clash, a Congress worker was killed in East Vardhman.

A few months later, Hemant Basu, president of the All India Forward Bloc, which was part of the Left Front, was shot dead in Kolkata. Political violence increased after 1977. Panchayat elections were held for the first time in Bengal in the same year.

In late 1979, the Marichjhapi massacre took place. 1982 13 people of Anand Marg were gunned down. The blame for this fell on the Bengal Police only. In 2000, 13 Muslims were lynched in a village in Birbhum. This was also a matter related to politics.

Trinamool started challenging the CPM government in Bengal, after which violent incidents started increasing. A large number of people were killed in political violence in the last years of CPM rule. 50 people died in 2009, 38-38 in 2010 and 2011.

In 2011, the Left government of 34 was overthrown by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool and Congress alliance. There was definitely a decrease in the official figures during Mamta’s government, but political violence could not be controlled completely.

Why does political violence flare up again and again?
The question arises that why Bengal, popularly known as Bhadralok, starts burning in the fire of violence again and again? Recently, Professor Ursula Daxker of the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and Hanne Fjeldde of the Oslo Peace Research Institute have done a 37-page research on this.

According to research, the main reasons for violence during elections are the fight for dominance and political awareness. Ursula Daxekar writes- Violence in Bengal reaches its peak when a party challenges the ruling party. Daxekar presents the data of violence in 2009-2011 and 2018 to 2021 behind this.

According to him, whenever there has been an increase in violent incidents in Bengal, new opposition parties have emerged as a challenge to the ruling parties. In 2009-11, when the cases of political murders increased, Trinamool’s seats increased and CPM went out of power.

Similarly, an increase in the incidents of political violence was observed in 2018-21. During this, there was a tremendous increase in the seats of BJP in the state. BJP reached 1 to 18 in Lok Sabha and 3 to 77 in Vidhansabha.

Describing political awareness as a major reason for violence, Daxker and Fjeldde write – When the workers of political parties realize that elections are not being held in a fair manner, the struggle increases. This struggle sometimes turns into violent incidents.

During the assembly elections in the year 2021, there was a clash between the Trinamool and the BJP in Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi over the improper conduct of polling, after which the CISF opened fire. In this firing, 4 people died on the spot.

Another main reason is also the syndicate working at the grassroots level. According to political experts, all the businesses in Bengal are conducted at the village level only through syndicates. These syndicates are fueled by power.

Political parties maintain their strength on the ground through these syndicates. In such a situation, the Syndicate does not want to end its supremacy in any way during elections and gives full power for power.