Decoding Murshidabad violence and clamour for President's Rule

Murshidabad may have been quiet for the past five days but political leaders have been vocal in condemning the state government for its failure to contain the violence. The demand for President’s Rule in the state has once again gained currency and visits to Murshidabad on Friday and Saturday, 18 and 19 April by Governor C.V. Ananda Bose and members of the NCW (National Commission for Women) have kept the issue alive.

Judging by the details which have emerged so far, it is a stretch to call it a communal violence. That is because there are multiple stories of Hindus and Muslims jointly resisting the mob in Murshidabad. They have been admittedly few and have been drowned in the din of political rhetoric.

When the house of ‘Manik’ was attacked, his neighbour Sanaul and other Muslim neighbours joined them in repulsing the attacks. Archana Sarkar is thankful to her Muslim neighbours for saving her life and helping her escape.

Such video clips shared by ABP Live, of Hindus expressing their gratitude to Muslim neighbours, have however barely made it to newspapers and disappeared from news fast enough.

The violence, it was alleged, was instigated by Muslims protesting against the passage of the Waqf Act. Why was it confined then to just four Blocks? If Muslims unleashed the violence, who torched Muslim homes and establishments? Who attacked the house of the Muslim MP of Trinamool Congress Khalilur Rahman?

Trinamool Congress circulated videos of women saying on camera that BJP supporters had vandalised their homes for their sin of voting for the ‘Muslim party’. There is no independent corroboration of these allegations. What is more, although spread of the violence was confined to four Blocks in two subdivisions in Murshidabad, media reports tend to suggest that the violence was more widespread.

That Hindu houses were attacked is however undeniable. By whom and why are questions that still do not have a definitive answer. What is also undisputed is the particularly brutal murder of Haragobinda Das and his 40-year-old son Chandan. They were dragged out of their home, tortured and stabbed to death.

Police claim to have identified their assailants with the help of CCTV footage but are tight lipped about why the duo were singled out for such brutality. The father and son turned out to be CPI(M) workers.

The only other death reported from Murshidabad is of a Muslim youth, killed allegedly in police firing.

Trinamool Congress has been busy circulating videos of victims claiming that they were hounded out by BJP workers and not Muslims. Around 300 Hindu families from four Blocks in Murshidabad were taken away by the BSF to schools in neighbouring Malda district after they fled from home. Some of their houses were burnt by mobs on the rampage.

The Governor and members of the NCW met them and visited villages to take stock of the damage to property. What was decidedly awkward during the Governor’s visit to the relief camps was the crowd chanting Jai Shri Ram and some in the crowd sporting saffron scarves.

BJP leaders have accused Trinamool Congress and the police to have engineered the violence to divert attention from the snowballing protests of school teachers terminated on the orders of the Supreme Court. Union minister Sukanta Majumdar claimed the marauders were Bangladeshi infiltrators who wanted to incite violence in the state.

Trinamool Congress and the police said they believe people from adjoining states of Bihar and Jharkhand, barely six kilometres away, were brought in to instigate the violence. Videos of at least two young boys with skull caps were also circulated on social media with unverified claims that they were Hindus from the neighbouring states.

Alleging a total breakdown of law and order, followed by the now familiar BJP demand of imposition of President’s Rule, Majumdar and the official BJP handles on social media circulated nine visuals of rioting allegedly in the state. They quickly deleted the posts when the police pointed out that the visuals were old, some dating back to anti-CAA protests in 2019-20, and the visuals were from several BJP-ruled states.

West Bengal Police have arrested 274 miscreants but it is not clear whether any of them happen to be from Bangladesh, as has been alleged by both BJP and Trinamool leaders.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pounced on the statements and blamed the violence on the failure of the BSF to stop infiltration and demanded that home minister Amit Shah be held responsible.

Most of the leaders and the police seem to agree on the role of ‘outsiders’ and eyewitness accounts that they did not recognise people in the mob has added to the suspense.

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Nobody is ruling out either the simmering anger among Muslims in the region caused by relentless attacks on the community in other parts of the country. While the passage of the Waqf Act though parliament added to the resentment, the community has been largely quiet. Elders in the community have been advising restraint. Some of the youngsters, people speculate, may no longer be willing to heed such advice.

This year started with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat camping in West Bengal for 10 days in February, 2025. In March, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari declared that Muslim MLAs would be thrown out of the assembly when BJP comes to power.

It drew a prompt response from Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir from Murshidabad. Newspapers reported Kabir saying that if Adhikari dared to step into Murshidabad on 13 April, he would receive a thrashing. What was so special about 13 April is still not clear. Violence, however broke out in Murshidabad on 11-12 April.

Peace is unlikely to last till the assembly elections get over. There will be other occasions, other pretexts and other opportunities to instigate mobs and light new fires.