It바카라s 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 바카라black 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 men바카라s rights activist with 31,500 바카라followers바카라, including Kailash Vijayvargiya, the BJP바카라s Madhya Pradesh-based Bengal in-charge. Though Vijayvargiya didn바카라t 바카라share바카라 or 바카라like바카라 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, 바카라STAY 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 바카라Bengali Communist men바카라, 바카라commie girls바카라, 바카라North Indian cows바카라 and 바카라illiterate Sanghis바카라 were flung around freely in heated exchanges.
On Twitter, one Debarati Majumdar wrote, 바카라North Indian fraud patriots and BJP fanatics were behind this vilification campaign of Bengali women,바카라 while Sushovan Chaudhuri said 바카라the generalisation of Bengali girls as devils are related to Hindutva, i.e. Hindi Imperialism.바카라 Writing in Bengali on Facebook, activists바카라mostly Trinamool or Left supporters바카라blamed Hindutva forces for orchestrating a vilification campaign against Bengali women. Those preaching Hindutva were anti-Bengali, they stated.
This wasn바카라t 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 바카라Kalankini바카라 to describe Radha and 바카라Kanu 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 바카라haramzada바카라 and 바카라kalankini바카라 were widely understood as such. It was argued that the incident again showed up Hindutva forces바카라 poor knowledge of Bengal바카라s 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 바카라outsiders바카라, in an obvious reference to the BJP. On July 21, Banerjee had said that Bengal 바카라shall not be ruled by outsiders바카라by those from Gujarat바카라.
An avowed BJP supporter who goes by the Twitter username Ash Rockzz, sensed the danger. 바카라Since 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, 바카라It is important that Bengali BJP social media warriors keep the focus on Mamata바카라s 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 Navami바카라never an occasion for celebration in Bengal바카라in 2017, reaction against it led to the birth of a number of Bengali rights groups바카라Bangla Pokkho, Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan and Bangla Sanskriti Mancha, which alleged that the BJP was trying to impose 바카라north 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, 바카라This 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 바카라anti-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 Police바카라s cybercrime section against six 바카라admins바카라 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 바카라Bengali-haters바카라 in Siliguri and Chinsurah and the cyber crime cell of Bidhan Nagar police.
바카라The social media controversies are more political than organic. The Hindutva camp, which also represents Hindi imperialism, runs a concerted campaign to defame Bengal바카라s cultural heritage because BJP wants Bengalis to conform to the north Indian brand of Hinduism. This is nothing but a part of the saffron camp바카라s broader agenda of changing the Bengali psyche,바카라 says Anirban Banerjee of Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan. Bangla Pokkho바카라s Kaushik Maiti asked, without naming the BJP, 바카라How #Bengali could be trending on Twitter without the legendary IT cell바카라s hands behind it?바카라
The BJP alleges a political conspiracy. 바카라Trinamool 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 BJP바카라s 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. 바카라Bengalis 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 BJP바카라s rise is being seen as the rise of the heartland바카라s 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. 바카라Pressure 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. 바카라The 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
