Who says the fight with Pakistan ended after Bangladesh’s liberation? The fight still continues but it is in West Bengal now. The Satyagrahi for Bangladesh Narendra Modi’s warrior and the Trinamool Congress turncoat Suvendu Adhikari is leading the charge in Nandigram. Narendra Modi confessed in Bangladesh recently that he had done Satyagraha for the liberation of Bangladesh! With the utter failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi at the Centre, Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP candidate has nothing to show to the electorate. Adhikari has borrowed some hate poison from the Safed Dadhiwala and the Kali Dadhiwala! The communal poison of hate is being injected in the peaceful Nandigram to polarize voters on religious lines.
As usual, the Eccentric Commission (EC) is sleeping with its buddy – the BJP! The grand aim of this hate-mongering is to stop Mamata ‘Begum’ (Banerjee) from turning West Bengal into a ‘Mini Pakistan’, according to Suvendu Adhikari’s own admission. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate Suvendu Adhikari is spitting fire in his poison-laced speeches in Nandigram – the epicenter of the fight for the West Bengal assembly. The narrative revolves around words like ‘Pakistan’, ‘Begum’, and ‘Eid.’ The campaign is targeted at communal polarisation.
On 29th March 2021, during his speech at a public meeting in Nandigram Adhikari had a premonition:
“If Mamata ‘Begum’ (Banerjee) comes back to power, the state will turn into a Mini Pakistan!”
The ‘Begum’ is a vitriolic reference to the West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee. It seems to relate to Mamata Banerjee’s perceived closeness to the Muslim electorate and to drive away from the Hindu voters from her. For the past several days, Suvendu Adhikari, in all his public meetings in Nandigram constituency and other surrounding areas, has regularly referred to Mamata Banerjee as ‘Begum’. Suvendu Adhikari has borrowed the ‘Muslim baiting’ and ‘Muslim Villian’ concepts from Narendra Modi. It may be recalled that the last Assembly elections in Gujarat centered around the scare that Ahmed ‘Miya’ (Patel) would become the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Narendra Modi openly aroused the Gujarati Hindus and seemingly asked: how could they allow Ahmed ‘Miya’ – a Muslim to become the Chief Minister? But in Nandigram, Mamata is not a Muslim but projected as a Muslim Villian.
Suvendu Adhikari’s another grouse is that “Mamata regularly says ‘Eid Mubarak.’ It has become a habit of hers, he thundered. So much so that, on the occasion of Dol (the spring festival in Bengal, usually preceding Holi), Mamata Begum wished everyone ‘Holi Mubarak’,” faulted Adhikari. He went on to make the ‘Mini Pakistan’ reference. “She is trying to act like a Hindu now. She acts according to the Assembly seat she is campaigning for. While campaigning in Egra, she was reciting the Islamic Kalimas (Islamic phrases). In Nandigram, she was chanting the wrong Chandipath — Hindu mantra,” evaluated Adhikari on Monday. On 27th March 2021, while speaking at a public meeting at Daudpur in Nandigram, Adhikari expressed his anguish thus: “Never have I seen Pakistanis’ hooliganism in Nandigram before now…Nandigram needs to take a stand. Will it vote for Mamata Begum and ultimately make Sufian stronger?”
Sheikh Sufian is a TMC old war horse in Nandigram. He was one of the prominent leaders of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee that led the anti-land acquisition movement in the region in 2007. The same Sheikh Sufian worked relentlessly for the ungrateful Suvendu Adhikari before. Suvendu is allegedly inciting the people against Sufian. On 20th March, while speaking at a public rally in Nandigram, Adhikari asked: “Do you want the son of Medinipur’s soil or do you want to see Nandigram through Sheikh Sufian’s eyes? They have created a small Pakistan in various gram panchayats. If Pakistan wins a cricket match, they burst crackers, distribute sweets and eat meat. Do you want to hand over Nandigram to them…think about it.”
Suvendu Adhikari has been overenthusiastic to malign the names of TMC’s Muslim leaders and generate hate against them to polarize Hindu votes in his favour. “If Madam (Mamata) wins from here, she will be gone soon. You all have to go to Sufian’s house for paperwork. Is it safe for women to go to Sufian’s house? Is it safe for anyone?” Adhikari’s character assassinated Sufian in another meeting.
The unfounded anxiety over Sufian’s Muslim identity is manufactured through BJP’s fake campaigns. The hate is heightened by morphed photos of Mamata Banerjee wearing a hijab and offering prayers. The morphed photos have been sent to thousands of people on WhatsApp. Neither the EC nor the police have acted on this fake campaign.
Suvendu Adhikari’s hate and contempt for Mamata ‘Begum’ is evident from the Muslim narrative he is trying to weave around the beleaguered Chief Minister: “You are the ‘Phuphu’ of infiltrators. The word Phuphu for paternal aunt is often used by Muslims. You are the ‘Khala’ of the Rohingya.” The word Khala for maternal aunt is often used by Muslims.
The Nandigram Legislative Assembly Constituency is spread across two blocks — Nandigram 1 and Nandigram 2. In Nandigram 1 block, 35% of the population is Muslim, whereas the figure is at around 12% in Nandigram 2 block. Totally, a sizable chunk of Nandigram’s voters are Muslims. This has led to Suvendu’s stomach ache and passing of communal gas! It may be recalled that in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJP secured 62,000 votes from the Nandigram Assembly constituency. Most of the votes that went to BJP were against Suvendu Adhikari, who was then in the TMC. It was not pro-BJP at all.
Suvendu Adhikari is trying to live up to BJP’s divisive and hateful expectations of him. His anti-Muslim campaign has now charted on openly communal faultlines in Nandigram. Many voters in Nandigram believe that the anti- Suvendu Adhikari votes had been cast by former supporters of the Left who had been targeted and harassed by Suvendu Adhikari’s goons.
Amit Shah is set to move his communal cauldron to the Nandigram roadshow with the campaigning closing on 30th March 2021. Will the Narendra Modi –Satyagrahi for Bangladesh’s warrior Suvendu Adhikari be able to stop Mamata ‘Begum’ from turning West Bengal into a Mini Pakistan? Wait for the answer to this burning question till 2nd May 2021 when the votes are finally counted!
