West Bengal, one of the restive states that perpetually remains in the news over the brutal political killings and savagery, was in the limelight once again this week after the bloodcurdling murder of at least eight people in the district of Birbhum, following the murder of TMC panchayat leader Bhadu Sheikh.
As per news reports, the eight dead were forcibly locked up inside a house and burnt to death in what is widely believed to be retributory killings, seemingly to avenge the murder of Bhadu Sheikh. Family members of Fatik Sheikh and Chhota Lalon Sheikh—the two accused of killing Bhadu Sheikh—were charred to death after they were reportedly cooped up inside a house in the Rampurhat area of the Birbhum district and set on fire.
The gruesome incident drew fierce condemnation on social media and political circles, who slammed the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led government for being inefficient and incompetent in maintaining law and order in the state and failing in ensuring the safety of its citizens.
While condemnations and criticism of the government’s inability to curb the violence pour in, it was surprising to see some members of the Left ecosystem falling over themselves to slam the Mamata Banerjee government over the Birbhum incident. Deaths, rapes, massive displacement and human rights crisis in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly election results last year did not seem to have not tugged at the heartstrings of the liberals as much as the unfortunate fate of at least 8 people who died in Birbhum this week, following which the self-described liberals took to social media to flaunt their hollow commitment to human rights and the sanctity of human life.
Self-proclaimed liberals slam Mamata Banerjee over Birbhum incident
A raft of self-described liberals took to Twitter to express their solidarity with the victims of arson witnessed in Birbhum and slam the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government for the total collapse of law and order in the state.
Swati Chaturvedi, an abusive troll masquerading as a journalist, commented on the killings, saying it was “absolutely sickening politics driving these murders”.
Sakshi Joshi, another self-proclaimed journalist, took to Twitter to question Mamata Banerjee on the gruesome killings in Birbhum. Uncharacteristically, she declared that such news of violence in West Bengal has become par for the course, asking if the state is averse to maintaining law and order.
Similar sentiments were shared by Sakshi’s husband, Vinod Kapri, yet another propagandist who pretends to be a journalist. Kapri proclaimed that Mamata Banerjee does not deserve to be the chief minister of the state even for a single second.
Prashant Kumar, a journalist, took a swipe at the “democracy in danger” brigade, asking them to take note of the brutalities taking place in West Bengal under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee.
YouTuber Ajit Anjum, who normally aligns with the non-BJP parties, even at the expense of logic and common sense, could not stop himself from calling out Mamata Banerjee for the Birbhum incident. “Is there rule of law or jungle raj in your state? Such incidents are not only a blot on your authority but also the proof of the failure of your system,” Anjum tweeted.
Rohini Singh, yet another self-proclaimed journalist, too joined the bandwagon in criticising Mamata Banerjee for the Birbhum incident. Describing the incident as “unspeakable horror and violence”, Singh tagged Mamata Banerjee on Twitter and questioned her on the state of affairs in West Bengal.
Many other ‘liberals’ too shunned their traditional reluctance in calling out a non-BJP chief minister and castigated Mamata Banerjee for the grisly incident that took place in Birbhum. The unequivocal condemnation from the liberals was particularly surprising, given that they have a habit of papering over inadequacies of opposition leaders and exaggerating perceived wrongdoings committed in BJP-ruled states.
However, even as the Left-liberals railed against Mamata Banerjee for the violence in Birbhum, the left-leaning rag Telegraph still did not believe the TMC chief was responsible for the current quagmire. Instead, it passed the buck on the “feud”, conveniently shielding Mamata Banerjee from taking the rap for the violence that swept Birbhum. In its article talking about violence, Telegraph declared it was a ‘feud’ that burned and caused loss of life and not the abdication of duty by the officials of the Mamata Banerjee government.
The callous indifference of the left towards Hindu victims of post-poll violence in West Bengal
Besides the Left, the Birbhum killings provoked widespread outrage on social media websites, with many users harking back to the spate of killings, riotings, incidents of vandalism and arson that followed the assembly poll results in West Bengal last year when BJP workers and Hindus were subjected to unspeakable atrocities after Mamata Banerjee’s resounding victory in the elections.
Hundreds of BJP workers were killed, women sexually assaulted, and properties owned by perceived to be owned by BJP supporters were set ablaze in the violence that ensued in the wake of assembly election results. The spectre of violence was roundly condemned by politicians and social media users belonging to the non-left persuasion, who called on the Centre to take exemplary action against the state government in light of the brutality perpetrated in West Bengal.
However, missing was the unequivocal condemnation from the Left intelligentsia, members of whom accused the Centre of conjuring up stories of alleged atrocities to target the Mamata Banerjee government. They accused the BJP supporters of making exaggerated claims, exploiting incidents of violence and chaos to mount a propaganda blitz against the reelected government. Some of the shameless ones even outrightly refused to acknowledge the deaths of Hindus that accompanied the poll results.
Despite the damning report by the NHRC on post-poll violence in West Bengal, scathing observations made by the Calcutta HC, and gory news reports cataloguing the savagery witnessed in the aftermath of the poll results, liberals expediently looked the other way, maintaining a deafening silence on the barbarity and refusing to hold Mamata Banerjee’s government to account.
Instead, they tried to discredit the reports and accounts that asserted the existence of post-poll violence in West Bengal by casting aspersions on their veracity and insinuating that they were politically motivated to slander the victorious TMC regime.
The discriminatory response of ‘liberals’: Apathy towards Hindu victims, concern for non-Hindu victims
Now months later, as violence swept Birbhum, where 8 people, seven of whom reportedly belonged to the same Muslim family, were charred to death, the ‘liberals’ suddenly woke up from their slumber to realise their duty of holding governments to account, regardless of their political leanings. They condemned the killings and spoke up against the Mamata Banerjee regime for fostering a culture where political murders and revenge killings have, unfortunately, become the order of the day.
But tragically, this realisation did not seem to have sunk among the left-leaning liberals during the post-poll violence in West Bengal, possibly because the victims were overwhelmingly Hindus. For the Left ideologues, Hindus are akin to guinea pigs, who are worth sacrificing for putting up with the charade of secularism. Hindu lives don’t matter to them because, for them, secularism and preserving the pluralistic fabric of the country are more important than issues such as violence, rapes, assaults, arsons carried out against Hindu victims.
The dichotomy between the liberal reaction to the post-poll violence in West Bengal and the Birbhum incident is a testament to the Left’s discrimination against Hindu and non-Hindu victims.
