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Almost every year, Ram Navami and other Hindu festivals invite fresh waves of jihadist violence in...
Read More A toto van winded through the dusty streets of Mothabari in West Bengal’s Malda announcing the upcoming Ram Navami celebrations on March 27. It approached a mosque which stood on its designated route. It was 9.
30 pm, long after the Ramzan prayers had ended. A whisper campaign had reportedly been carried out on social media that the group would pass the mosque to deliberately provoke Muslims. It did not matter that the organisers had prior police permission for that route and that cops were present near the procession.
Violence broke out. Shops and houses were destroyed, Hindus were beaten up. The police were seen on video arresting the Ram Navami organisers.
It did not stop there. Within 48 hours, jihadis launched two more attacks on Hindus and their property: one in Jhaubona in Murshidabad district and another in Dakshin Barbaria village, Purba Medinipur district. Just like in Mothabari, Malda district, Hindu-owned shops were vandalised in Jhaubona and Trimohani Bazar under Naoda Police Station in Murshidabad.
Bombs were thrown indiscriminately. A betel plantation farm was set ablaze. The police watched.
“Another horrifying attack on Hindus under Mamata Banerjee’s appeasement regime! Jihadi mobs unleashed terror in Jhaubona, Naoda (Murshidabad), after the Mothabari rampage. Under the cover of darkness, they deliberately set fire to Hindu-owned betel farms, looted shops in Jhaubona & Trimohini Bazaar, and launched violent assaults on innocent Hindus," former BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar posted on X. In Dakshin Barbaria village of Purba Medinipur, local devotees had organised a Maa Chandi puja.
A Muslim mob reportedly stormed the pandal and brutally assaulted worshippers. At least 10 Hindus sustained severe injuries, inflicted with sharp weapons that left deep wounds. The victims have been rushed to Mugberia Hospital for treatment.
“Mamata Banerjee is pushing West Bengal toward a dangerous transformation—one that mirrors Bangladesh’s past. The BJP will not allow her to succeed," head of the BJP’s National Information and Technology Department and co-incharge of West Bengal, Amit Malviya, posted on X. Almost every year, Ram Navami and other Hindu festivals invite fresh waves of jihadist violence in West Bengal.
But just about a year ahead of the 2026 West Bengal elections, this round portents a much bigger and sinister plan. Mamata Banerjee’s TMC will use every trick in the book to corner the Muslim vote, which looked shaky during the protests against the RG Kar doctor’s rape and murder. A section of Muslims also took part in the statewide agitations, which were mainly organised by the Left.
Mamata would not want to cede any ground to the Left when it comes to Muslim votes. Already, while visiting a mosque on Eid-ul-Fitr on Monday, CM Banerjee said: “Aaj all our gerua ek ho gaya." It is her dog-whistle to Muslims that the Left is on the BJP’s side, so do not go with it.
Also, the turmoil in Bangladesh and the TMC repeatedly soliciting votes of illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas here, assuring them that their names will be pushed into the electoral rolls, will only get more intense as the polls approach. Violence and intimidation against Hindus are likely to rise. A fresh round started in November 2024.
Communal clashes broke out in Beldanga town and surrounding areas in Bengal’s Murshidabad district, injuring at least 50 people from both communities. More than 30 houses were ransacked or set on fire. The clashes started during the celebration of Kartik puja by community clubs at Beldanga.
An offensive comment was created with bulbs on an electrical display board. And behind this gratuitous communal violence lies West Bengal’s changing demography. Murshidabad has the highest Muslim population of 66.
28 per cent, according to the 2011 Census. Adjacent Malda has the state’s second highest: 51.27 per cent.
With a law and order machinery widely accused of being weaponised against the dwindling majority, demography is fast turning out to be Bengal’s destiny. Yet again. Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views..
