West Violence and politics in Bengal complement each other. Whenever politics in West Bengal is discussed, the political violence there is discussed first. In almost every state of the country, there are sporadic incidents of violence during elections. That is, in all states, violence is electoral. On the other hand, in West Bengal, violence is not related to elections but to politics. Political violence has been common in West Bengal for decades.
Since independence, Bengal has seen governments led by several political parties. These include the Congress which ruled for more than two decades and the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front which ruled for more than three decades. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) leads the current government. Under all these regimes, a culture of violent clashes between workers of political parties, especially in rural areas, has flourished over the years. These incidents have fuelled political violence in West Bengal.
The history of political violence is old
Political violence in West Bengal started with the Naxal movement. Naxal violence which started between 1960 and 1970 gradually turned into political violence. According to a government statistic, more than 30 thousand people have been killed in political violence in West Bengal in these five decades. But the period of political violence in the state is still continuing. In the last two decades, most deaths occurred in the Singur and Nandigram movements. Political experts were also afraid that as the general elections would be held in the state, political violence would increase.
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Is regional politics responsible for this violence?
The period of violence in West Bengal started after 1960. After that, in 1967, the Left Party government came to power in the state which lasted for 34 years till 2011. According to a statistic, during these 34 years, 28 thousand people were killed in political violence in the state. The violent way in which the West Bengal government suppressed the Nandigram and Singur movements led by Mamata Banerjee proved to be the last nail in the coffin and the 34-year-old Left government collapsed. People hoped that now after the change of government, political violence in West Bengal will end, but this did not happen. Be it Panchayat elections or Assembly-Lok Sabha elections, violence in West Bengal has not decreased. Now even without any election, killing and attacking political workers has become a common thing.
Political violence and democracy
According to a paper by the Observer Research Foundation, democracy and violence have a symbiotic relationship. Even the world’s most mature democracies have been unable to eliminate such a deep connection. For example, between the late 1980s and the 2000s, countries in Western Europe such as Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany witnessed an explosion of political violence from left-wing and right-wing extremist groups. In recent years, the world has seen incidents of political violence over the Brexit issue in the United Kingdom (UK), the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States (US) and the 2020 US elections. However, one can say that political violence is more common in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
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So how will the picture change?
The picture of political violence in Bengal did not change during the 34 years of the Left and 13 years of Mamata Banerjee. In such a situation, people’s hope is now on a third option. This option will be decided in the 2026 assembly elections. It is clear that the people of West Bengal will have three options in front of the Left and Congress, TMC and BJP. The people there have already tried the options of Congress, Left and TMC. In such a situation, BJP is seeing itself as a strong option in the state. Perhaps that is why BJP has put all its strength in West Bengal.
Tags: BJP, TMC vs BJP, Congress, Mamta Banerjee, west bengal news
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 24, 2024, 16:15 IST