And The Hyena Laughed

As evening desc­ends on the rem­ote village of Rudrapur in West Bengal바카라�s North 24 Parganas district, fear grips the household of a local schoolteacher. He lives across the street from the house of Kaustav Dey (name changed), the 17-year-old whose Facebook page depicting an obscene cartoon denigrating an Islamic place of worship triggered communal clashes and spread to the nearby town of Baduria.

바카라�For my family, it was like being in the epicentre of the violence,바카라� he tells Outlook. Just inches away from his yard, on the front lawn of the Dey residence, a huge mob had gathered on the afternoon of July 3, the day after the Facebook post appeared. 바카라�They were calling out for him, asking him to come out,바카라� he says. 바카라�Soon, we heard the sound of bombs exploding. Then we saw fire. They had begun to burn down houses owned by our community.... Would they enter our home and attack us? We feared for our lives. We feared for the honour of our women. The mob was unpredictable.... We left everything behind and just slipped away silently through a side door hidden from view because of large trees, even as the rampage continued.바카라�

Returning only after the administration declared a curfew and sent in police and paramilitary forces, the schoolteacher and his family, who had stayed with relatives during the time that the riot raged, say that they 바카라�live in constant terror바카라�. He speaks as the first flares of the fire, after consuming Baduria  and Basirhat, had spent itself, and then were fanned again by the allegedly 바카라�selective바카라� arrests of 바카라�rioters바카라� by the police, prompting enraged char­ges of Trinamool 바카라�appeasement바카라�. That too has run its course, aided by effective policing, the spread of persuasive messages of amity on Facebook, and a muscular show of force on the ground by secular-minded citizenry. Yet, the fear lingers, if only mixed with the bitter aftertaste of violence.

For a nation that is inured through cliched newspaper headlines and flashy television broadcasts to its citizens, especially in strife-torn areas, it is perhaps difficult to fathom the depth of this man바카라�s elemental fear.

The teacher is only too willing to put it in perspective: 바카라�Imagine living in the knowledge that at any time, mobs armed with weapons can break into your house,바카라� he says. Pointing out the vulnerability of religious 바카라�minorities바카라� in the area, he adds, 바카라�We live in a secluded spot and only six or seven houses belong to our community. There is no police station close by. Since the violence, police and paramilitary are patrolling during the day. But with nightfall, we are on our own.바카라� In a mark of extreme fear, he refuses to reveal his name or the number of members in his family. And he is not alone.

Outlook바카라�s travels in areas of North 24 Parganas that are licking their charred wounds after a week of communal violence and tension, reveal that fear, distrust and hatred have stealthily crept their way into the hearts and minds of some on both sides of the Hindu-Muslim divide. A trend that marks a shocking departure from what members, especia­lly elderly members, of both commu­­nities claim was 바카라�the earlier reality of Bengal바카라�. That 바카라�reality바카라�, says Mujib-ur-Rahman, a 79-year-old far­mer of predominantly Muslim Baduria, was marked by 바카라�a harmonious co-existence between the two communities since India바카라�s Independence바카라�.

A visibly disturbed Rahman tells Outlook, 바카라�This is the first time that Muslims and Hindus of Baduria have fought. I was a young boy in 1947. Baduria and surrounding villages like Rudrapur always had more Muslim households than Hindu ones. It rema­ined so even after Independence. This is because our families did not go to Pakistan. We considered ourselves Indian. Muslims and the Hindus here have lived peacefully for 70 years.바카라�

Not every member of the Muslim community in Baduria is so forgiving; they claim that the offensive FB post that sparked the riots has ripped the bond apart. Abdur Naib, a 30-year-old shopkeeper tells Outlook, 바카라�I saw the FB post and was incensed. We have never shown disrespect to the religions of others. How did this boy have the audacity to insult our religion? We want him punished. We demand that he be hanged.바카라� Another man, who said he was part of a 바카라�protest rally바카라� and wanted Kaustav lynched, said, 바카라�He deserves to be stoned to death.바카라� The news of the offending FB post, followed by the decision to take action against Kaustav, spread quickly through social media. 바카라�It was not difficult to track him. His FB page had details such as his address and phone number. From his photo some of us recognised him. We knew him.바카라�

Interestingly, Kaustav바카라�s neighbours, both Hindu and Muslim, are surprised that 바카라�a meek boy such as him바카라�바카라�as one acquaintance des­cribes him바카라�바카라�could do som­e­thing so horrible as to post that obscene picture바카라�.

Shankar Roy, one of the few Hindus living in Rudrapur, knew Kaustav바카라�s father well. 바카라�It is unthinkable that he would do such a horrible thing. He is well-brought up. His mot­her died and his father wanted to give him a good education and sent him here to live with his elder brother. Kaustav lived here with his uncle,바카라� Roy points to the one-storey house, its iron grilles locked from the outside, the green shrubs surrounding it burnt to ashes by rioters. 바카라�By the time the mob arrived he had already been arrested by police and taken away,바카라� says Roy, adding that the uncle and the father also fled the scene. According to him, some elder and mature members of the community had advised the furious agitators that since the boy had been arrested the matter should end, but were roughly over-ruled in favour of vigilante justice.

It has been suggested that when Kaustav바카라�s uncle, a low-ranked police officer, got news that a mob was on its way to his house, he whisked him away and that his arrest has saved his life. 바카라�Otherwise, he would have been stoned to death after being tried under Sharia law as the mob demanded,바카라� says a neighbour.

And yet, lingering doubts remain whether Kaustav himself had uploaded or even forwarded the offensive post, or if his account had been hacked and he was made a scapegoat. Even the young Muslim men of Baduria and Rudrapur don바카라�t deny that possibility. 바카라�It could be that there are others involved,바카라� said a Baduria local. 바카라�But we don바카라�t know that. Since it appeared on his FB page, he became the target of our anger.바카라�

Considering the boy바카라�s upbringing and surroundings바카라�he lived in a Muslim area just across from the local mosque, had Muslim friends and would have been aware of the imp­lications of such a post바카라�it is indeed difficult for many in Baduria to blame him. The boy himself is understood to have told police that he did not do it.

바카라�We are not ruling out the possibility that there was vested political interest behind the offensive post with a view to create trouble,바카라� said a Bengal politician.

These are serious allegations. Yet the speculations refuse to die down, especially when seen with the fact that in recent years communal disharmony has spread throughout Bengal, especially in districts바카라�like Malda, Murshidabad and now, N. 24 Parganas바카라�that border Bangladesh. So, is someone 바카라�introducing바카라� communal tension in famously 바카라�secular바카라� Bengal, the past bastion of the Communists, where Hindus and Muslims supposedly live as 바카라�bhai-bhai, behen-behen바카라�, as Baduria바카라�s Mujib-ur-Rehman put it?

A few amateurish attempts to whip up 바카라�retaliation바카라� during the Baduria-Basirhat violence have already been made. Calcutta police booked BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on July 10 for allegedly posting pictures of the 2002 Gujarat riots on Twitter and linking it to the violence in N. 24 Parganas. A Haryana BJP leader also allegedly used a disturbing image from a Bhojpuri film to show the 바카라�plight of Hindus바카라� in Bengal.

As the usual attendant to unrest of this sort, political parties have accused each other with unflagging gusto.

The Trinamool Congress and its sup­remo, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, have time and again accused the BJP of inciting communal tension with the purpose of gaining power in the state. 바카라�The only chance the BJP has to capture power in Bengal is to pit the Hindu vote against the Muslim vote,바카라� explains a Trinamool leader. 바카라�But in Bengal, Hindus don바카라�t vote as a whole and the basis of their vote is not religion. It is not a 바카라�united바카라� vote. So the BJP is trying to create a 바카라�Hindu바카라� feeling by fanning religious sentiments,바카라� he adds.

The BJP, on the other hand, has accused Trinamool of failing to contain violence against Hindus in Bengal, of appeasing Muslims to secure their 바카라�Muslim votebank바카라� and thus, by default, catering to Islamic fundamentalism.

바카라�Under the present regime, if you belong to this community, you are given certain unstated privileges that the other communities don바카라�t enjoy,바카라� Dilip Ghosh, BJP바카라�s Bengal state president, tells Outlook. 바카라�The chief minister has created financial grants for Imams, the money for which comes out of the state exchequer. Have religious heads of other communities received such undue favours? Isn바카라�t such overt favouritism driving a wedge through the secular fabric of the state?바카라� he asks. The BJP, says Ghosh, 바카라�wants unified laws for everyone, without any special favours. In Bengal, Hindus have lost their voice because of 바카라�appeasement바카라� of Muslims by successive state governments. We want to return that voice to them.바카라�

For all the solidarity of the secular in Facebook and that on the field in places like Deganga, near Basirhat, where the two communities stood guard to quell any vicious rumour, the BJP strategy of 바카라�arousing religious sentiment바카라� amongst Hindus seems to be working.

A resident of Malda바카라�the north Bengal district close to the Bangladesh border, where communal riots had taken place last year바카라�tells Outlook, 바카라�For many years now, during different pujas, we have been barred by community members from practising such religious rituals as blowing conch shells or giving 바카라�ulu바카라� (auspicious ululation). We have never had the courage to protest. It has been like living in an Islamic country.바카라� The banker says he will vote BJP in the next state elections.

바카라�Hindu바카라� sentiments were also successfully aroused in Howrah district바카라�s Dhula­garh, where communal riots had broken out in December 2016. A group of boys playing carrom in a local club, tells Outlook, 바카라�We are all Hindus. Earlier, we had a lot of Muslim friends and they too came and played with us. But not since the riots. How can we share the same space with boys who looted our houses and dishonoured our mothers and sisters?바카라�

Ashta Khanra and his elder brother, part of the local panchayat, narrates the way the riots played out in their village. 바카라�Mobs of men charged down the street, marking all the Hindu houses. Then, groups of them broke in and entered the house, looting. They entered in large groups and took away everything-gold jewellery, cash, gadgets, utensils, children바카라�s bicycles.... Then they set fire to furniture and other merchandise that they couldn바카라�t take with them. It was horrific.바카라� Khanra says he is shocked that the same men who had been like his brothers had turned into enemies overnight. 바카라�For years, we lived harmoniou­sly. They attended our Pujas and we attended their Eid ceremonies. So we don바카라�t understand how it could all change so suddenly.바카라�

It바카라�s this sense of dazed bafflement that seems to have permeated dozens of these remote riot-hit areas. The question that both Hindus and Muslims are asking is, 바카라�What suddenly happened to turn us into enemies?바카라� And the answers aren바카라�t blowing in the wind.

In Dhulagarh, says Kha­nra, 바카라�their community eld­ers inexplicably decided to take out a religious procession which they had never done. When the police ­den­ied them permission they started attacking us.바카라� It is the same story across Bardhaman, Birbhum, Hoo­­­ghly, How­­rah, Malda and Murshidabad.

In Baduria, a Muslim youth comes up and says, 바카라�I want to tell you something. Actually, we only wanted to take out a protest rally. Suddenly, there were 바카라�outsiders바카라�, people whom even we, the local boys, didn바카라�t recognise. They started the rampage, setting fire to police vehicles, dem­anding that the boy be handed over. Then, some local youths joined in. We are confused.바카라� The only certainty is that both communities are gripped by an unknown 바카라�fear바카라� of the other, a horribly downward spiral that has caught them unawares and pulled them in its folds, and which they fail to comprehend.

Night has already descended over Baduria and through the sound of the lashing rain one can hear the crunch of boots on the wet streets. Police and paramilitary personnel march for one last round. An initiative started by the new SDPO of Baduria police station Anil Kumar Roy, it is apparently an exercise in 바카라�confidence building바카라�.

바카라�We never lacked confidence earlier,바카라� says the teacher. The welcome drumming of rain would once be enough to lull the villagers into sleep. Now, they need the firm reassurance of boots on the ground.

By Dola Mitra in North 24 Parganas