The bordering districts of West Bengal have been facing a “silent invasion” from neighbouring Bangladesh since the 1980s. The impact of illegal immigration on the demography of these districts-

Source: Religion Census for Concerned Years

Between 2001 and 2011, the Hindu population in West Bengal has reduced by 1.94% and the Muslim population has grown by 1.94%. These numbers are much higher than the corresponding national averages of 0.8% and 0.7% ¹. The Communist Government of West Bengal ignored the illegal immigration of Muslims from Bangladesh and utilized these illegal immigrants to boost their rank of cadres. While in opposition, Mamata Banerjee informed the parliament in 2005 that “infiltration into Bengal has become a disaster”. She also spoke about the presence of Bangladeshi voters in the electoral rolls².

The horrible atrocity on Hindus in Sandeshkhali is the proverbial “tip of the iceberg”. Such atrocities have been a common feature in West Bengal for decades. Rapes and molestation were frequently used by cadres of the Communist Party for wresting political control through terror. Cadres committing such heinous crimes were provided political protection. The Fulbari (10 members of janajaatis were raped by CPM goons in (1989) and Bantola (1990) cases are stark examples of such politically motivated abuse of women.

Three medical officers Anita Dewan (UNESCO), Uma Ghosh (West Bengal Health Department) and Renu Ghosh (representative of UNICEF and WHO) were brutally raped by a mob of around 20-25 alleged cadres of CPI. Anita Dewan and their driver Abani Naia succumbed to the horrible torture. There were 43 wounds all over Abani Naia’s body and a lady doctor who conducted a post-mortem of Anita Dewan’s mortal remains was horrified to find a medical torch stuffed in her private organ. Ex-director of Asian Development Bank, D. Bandopadhyay, hinted at the possible role of Anita Dewan in exposing the scams concerning the allocation of UNICEF funds, allegedly operating with the patronage of the then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu³. The police had tried their level best to distort and cover up this incident. In the light of the incident, Jyoti Basu and his ministers callously dismissed the entire episode saying that the women were mistaken for child traffickers. Jyoti Basu remarked that such mistakes keep happening.

Sandeshkhali is located in the Basirhat sub-division of the North-24-Parganas district. With a population of around 68.54%, local politics is dominated by the so-called “Muslim votebank”. Hindus form around 31.24% of the population⁴. Sandeshkhali is one of the few remaining Hindu-dominated villages here. The people of Sandeshkhali mostly earn their living through farming and fishing. Over half of the village population is protected by ‘Scheduled Caste’ or ‘Scheduled Tribe’ status. Due to neglect and absence of employment opportunities, as of 2001 stats, around 59.70% of the people were found to be living below the poverty line. The Muslim population in Sandeshkhali has increased from 21% in 2001 to 27% in 2011. Current estimates of the Muslim population vary between 33 and 40%.

Sandeshkhali is a remote village with limited access routes. According to author Diptasya Jash, TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his maternal uncle Moslem Sheikh (a local Marxist leader and the panchayat chief) have their roots in Bangladesh⁵.  He alleges that they had settled in Sandeshkhali after illegally occupying land. Local media reports say that he could seen on the sidestep of cars, calling out to passengers and collecting fare from them during the early 2000s ⁶. There are several credible allegations of the Communist Party providing back-door support to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. These illegal immigrants became their vote bank and provided cadres for terrorising the people of West Bengal. They started occupying the lands of janajaatis either with money or through force. The dream of the “middle-class” people in villages to settle in cities and get a job further complicated this region. By the early 2000s, ghettos of Bangladeshi Muslims were visible throughout the Basirhat subdivision. Foreign powers with vested interests still keep providing huge amounts of funds for buying off Hindu properties at higher than market prices, in the bordering districts of West Bengal.

Sheikh Shahjahan is not the first goon to dominate this region. Goons like Isha Lashkar and Majid Master had terrorised the Hindus of Basirhat region before him. Isha Lashkar was the CPI(M) strongman in the Kalahajra village close to Sandeshkhali during the late 90s. Hindu rituals like pujas were not allowed to be performed without his permission. Newlywed Hindu women had to be sent to Isha Lashkar and his men for their entertainment. The West Police refused to file complaints against Isha Lashkar and his men. Isha Lashkar murdered 15 members of a Hindu family for celebrating Jamaishasthi (a Hindu ritual) without his permission and burnt down the whole village where they lived⁵. Police refused to take any action against them. The cattle of Hindu families were forcibly taken away for smuggling or slaughter. Mamoni Hembram, the daughter of a janajaati leader was kidnapped and gangraped for 10 days. She was kept in chains for the entire duration. 4 Hindu boys led by 23-year-old Lalu took revenge by shooting Isha Lashkar at point-blank range. With the full support of West Bengal Police, Isha Lashkar’s men chopped them up into pieces. The Hindus of Shonakhali had to fight a long uphill battle against Bangladeshi Muslim illegal immigrants, West Bengal Police and the contemporary Communist government just for survival.

Sheik Shahjahan was involved with the CPI(M) party till 2010. He joined the TMC party in 2013 after making a deal with Jyotipriya Mallick (now in jail for corruption). He amassed a huge amount of wealth at the expense of local people. He has 17 cars and owns around 23 acres of land. He made this huge wealth through the following activities

1. Taking away the job cards and Aadhar cards of local people. He took a portion of the money sent to their accounts for doing work or as a grant.
2. Forcibly evicting people from their farmlands and turning them into fisheries. Embankments were broken dumping saline water into farmlands. These lands inundated with saline water became useless for cultivation.
3. Forcing local people to provide slave labour in the businesses run by him and his group of goons.
4. Forcing local people to do chores and household work for free.
5. By siphoning away funds approved for public projects like building roads and digging ponds. To quote a local resident  “This road has been built but we have not been paid. When we dug a pond, we did not get money for it”. Saying anything would invite a serious thrashing ⁶.   

(To be Contd..)                    

References

1. Bengal beats India in Muslim growth rate | India News - Times of India (indiatimes.com)

2. What Mamata Banerjee Said Of Bangladeshi Immigrants In 2005 (ndtv.com)

3. 1990 Bantala Rape Case : Anita Dewan was raped & murdered - Tfipost.com

4. 2011 Religion Census

5. diptasya on X: "I am creating this thread to explain the situation in Sandeshkhali. To tell you that it is not a political fight. It is a JIHAD against Hindus to make them slave in their own homeland.1 @abhijitmajumder @promzzz @keyakahe https://t.co/oLvSRQpsXC" / X (twitter.com)

6. Sheikh Shahjahan, Sandeshkhali: Who's Sheikh Shahjahan, Trinamool Strongman At Centre Of Sandeshkali Row (ndtv.com)

Image source: News18