Rhea Chakraborty Controversy Deepens Bengali vs Non-Bengali Divide In Bengal

It바카라�s a bitter ethno-cultural scrimmage fought in, and fostered through, social media. Some recent social media posts, primarily targeting actor Rhea Chakraborty for the death of Sushant Singh Rajput and broadly alleging that Bengali women use 바카라�black magic바카라� to control men, have helped intensify a battle of cultures between that of West Bengal and the states of the Hindi heartland that had been brewing in Bengal since 2017.

The trigger was a tweet by Barkha Trehan, a woman who claims to be a men바카라�s rights activist with 31,500 바카라�followers바카라�, including Kailash Vijayvargiya, the BJP바카라�s Mad­hya Pradesh-based Bengal ­in-cha­rge. Though Vijayvargiya didn바카라�t 바카라�share바카라� or 바카라�like바카라� this post, many BJP supporters did, as became evident from the profiles of over 900 users who shared it. Trehan, who hails from UP and is presumably a BJP supporter, wrote on July 31, 바카라�STAY SAFE MEN / BOYS. Bengali girls are dominating, they know how to make guys fall for them. They catch big fish, good-looking highly-­paid guys. If you want to be her servant and financer and are okay to leave your family and join her family, then go ahead.바카라�

The resultant furore soon turned into an exchange of abuse between members of different communities. While several users criticised the gross generalisation of communities, barbs like 바카라�Bengali Communist men바카라�, 바카라�commie girls바카라�, 바카라�North Indian cows바카라� and 바카라�illiterate Sanghis바카라� were flung around freely in heated exchanges.

On Twitter, one Debarati Majumdar wrote, 바카라�North Indian fraud patriots and BJP fanatics were behind this vilification campaign of Bengali women,바카라� while Sus­hovan Chaudhuri said 바카라�the generalisat­ion of Bengali girls as devils are rela­ted to Hindutva, i.e. Hindi Imperialism.바카라� Wri­­ting in Bengali on Facebook, activi­sts바카라�mostly Trinamool or Left supporters바카라�blamed Hindutva forces for orchestrating a vilification campaign aga­­i­nst Bengali women. Those preaching Hin­­dutva were anti-Bengali, they stated.

This wasn바카라�t the first time an issue got a sudden political and communal twist. In June, there were similar anti-­north rea­ctions from Bengali social media users when some Hindutva activists protested the use of the word 바카라�Kala­nkini바카라� to des­cribe Radha and 바카라�Kanu Haram­­zada바카라� to refer to Krishna in a song penned by Radharaman Dutta and set to tune by Shah Abdul Karim that was used in the Netflix drama Bulbbul. The iconic song, belonging to the baul-fak­iri genre, was once popular, and the end­earing references to Kanu and Radha as 바카라�haram­zada바카라� and 바카라�kalankini바카라� were widely und­erstood as such. It was argued that the incident again showed up Hindutva forces바카라� poor knowledge of Bengal바카라�s cultural heritage.

However, the direction of the latest online conflict made BJP supporters wary, with assembly elections expected in less than a year and CM Mamata Banerjee trying to stoke Bengali pride against 바카라�outsiders바카라�, in an obvious reference to the BJP. On July 21, Banerjee had said that Bengal 바카라�shall not be ruled by outsiders바카라�by those from Gujarat바카라�.

An avowed BJP supporter who goes by the Twitter username Ash Rockzz, sensed the danger. 바카라�Since someone said a vile statement against all Bengali women (he must be punished I say), several Banglapokkho & TMC guys are up in arms & busy creating a Bengali vs Non-Bengali divide,바카라� he wrote. He then adv­ised, 바카라�It is important that Bengali BJP social media warriors keep the focus on Mamata바카라�s failures as CM바카라� but also take on those so-called Hindutva warriors & influencers who are busy creating the Bengali Non Bengali divide.바카라�

In Bengal, the rise of Bengali regional/ ethnic sentiments has a direct link with the rise of BJP, or the Sangh Parivar in a broader sense. Since the saffron camp announced its strength in the state with processions on Ram Navami바카라�never an occasion for celebration in Bengal바카라�in 2017, reaction against it led to the birth of a number of Bengali rights groups바카라�Bangla Pokkho, Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan and Bangla Sanskriti Mancha, which all­eged that the BJP was trying to impose 바카라�north Indian culture바카라� on Bengal. All these fringe groups have supporters from TMC and the Left parties.

Sniffing a genuine nativist sentiment against the BJP, TMC has since been reo­rienting itself as lord protector of Ben­­gali heritage. The Bengal units of the CPI(M) and the Congress, too, have rep­eatedly called the BJP anti-Bengali, a charge the BJP top brass vehemently ref­utes. While addressing a gathering in Calcutta in August, 2018, Amit Shah had said, 바카라�This is an absolute lie...by the Trina­mool. How can BJP be anti-Beng­ali, especially when Syama Prasad Moo­k­erji was the founder of our organ­isa­­tion?바카라� The BJP, for good measure, repeatedly branded the TMC and the Left as 바카라�anti-Hindu바카라�.

Politi­cal analysts believe the TMC gained significantly in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the controversy around destroying a bust of social refor­mer Ish­war Chandra Vidyasagar during a BJP procession and the NRC in Assam, which the TMC used to describe the BJP as anti-Bengali.

The fringe groups are contributing their mite too. In July, Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan lodged complaints at Kolkata Police바카라�s cybercrime section against six 바카라�admins바카라� of a Facebook group run by IIT Kharagpur students, and three other Hindi-speaking persons for speaking ill of Bengalis, while Bangla Pokkho lodged police complaints against 바카라�Bengali-haters바카라� in Siliguri and Chinsurah and the cyber crime cell of Bidhan Nagar police.

바카라�The social media controversies are more political than organic. The Hind­utva camp, which also represents Hindi imperialism, runs a concerted campaign to defame Bengal바카라�s cultural heritage bec­ause BJP wants Bengalis to conform to the north Indian brand of Hinduism. This is nothing but a part of the saffron camp바카라�s broader agenda of changing the Bengali psyche,바카라� says Anirban Banerjee of Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan. Bangla Pokkho바카라�s Kaushik Maiti asked, without naming the BJP, 바카라�How #Bengali could be trending on Twitter without the legendary IT cell바카라�s hands behind it?바카라�

The BJP alleges a political conspiracy. 바카라�Trinamool is using some half-educated Leftists to fuel sentiments against the BJP, branding us anti-Bengali. There is no social conflict between Bengalis and north Indians,바카라� says Sayantan Basu, a BJP general secretary.

According to Sabyasachi Basu Ray Cha­­udhury, a professor of political science, the BJP바카라�s rise has revived dormant Bengali sentiments against north Indi­ans. He says that CPI(M) in Bengal had emerged as a distinctly Bengali party, and the TMC, while trying to appropriate other Leftist policies, also inherited this Bengali identity. 바카라�Bengalis and north Indians have regarded each other with disdain for years. Bengali snobbishness disparaged the Hindi heartland from the cultural perspective, while north Indians had a bad perception of Bengalis from an economic perspective. These sentiments mostly remained dormant but now the BJP바카라�s rise is being seen as the rise of the heartland바카라�s culture, triggering backlash,바카라� he says.  

Maidul Islam, who teaches political science at Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, foresees a thickening of the ethnic conflict. The conflict betw­een religious identity and ethnic ident­ity, he says, has its roots in economy. 바카라�Pre­ssure of population has increased over the past deca­des. Though the BJP alleges infiltration from Bangladesh without presenting reliable data, migration of workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has increased in the last two decades. Yet jobs have shrunk. So, one side seeks the expulsion of Bangladeshi Muslims and the other trains its guns on Hindi-speaking migrants,바카라� Islam says.

Islam adds that for decades Bengal politics centered on class identity, but the situation was changing. 바카라�The ground for a Bengali-centric politics is ready and the TMC is likely to try and exploit it. It could not have played this ethnic card against the CPI(M), which earned a distinct Bengali identity, but it could put the BJP in a spot of bother,바카라� he says.

By Snigdhendu Bhattacharya in Calcutta