For more reasons than one, Bengal has been among the most talked about states in these Lok Sabha elections. Not a stranger to political violence, the state has seen repeated clashes in all the four phases of polls so far.

The Wire discusses with Anindya Sekhar Purakayastha, professor at Asansol’s Kazi Nazrul University, the implications of the current political situation in Bengal and the possible direction the state is moving towards.

Edited excerpts:

Asansol witnessed a lot of violence in Monday's polls. Last year, communal violence broke out in the same city. As a resident of Asansol and a professor of postcolonial politics, do you see this violence as a part of Bengal's general culture of political violence? Or are there some new elements in the recent confrontation?

I think the recent spurt in poll violence in Bengal is part of the overall climate of hate and polarisation that all of us have witnessed in India since 2014. I do not think we have seen a similar rise in hatred and political animosity before. Bengal did have a culture of violence and all of us have seen that in the past too (I mean before 2011).

Bengal did witness massive cases of rigging, booth capturing, political threats and murders before and therefore that legacy was already there, but what we are experiencing now is something unprecedented – communal polarisation and manufactured narratives of the right-wing have vitiated the political atmosphere in such a way that there is suspicion and open enmity everywhere. The political tension that exists in Bengal today has to be attributed to this larger mechanism of hate-mongering which the BJP has been doing for the last 3-4 years.

They are polarising the Bengali public sphere and have succeeded to a certain extent in raising the dormant anti-Muslim feelings among Hindus, many of whom migrated during Partition, with memories of dislocation and communal conflagration still alive in their minds.

The saffron brigade has reawakened and consolidated this trauma of the past so that they can politically capitalise on this. Such murky politicking on communal lines is bound to evoke tension and conflicts and that is exactly what is happening in Bengal now.

There seems to be a general perception that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) high command has instructed the party cadres to do what it takes – using fair means or foul – to win the polls. This is being cited as one of the reasons for the violence that took place not just in Asansol, but in other parts of Bengal – Nandigram, Birbhum – as well.

To think in that way would mean that there was no culture of violence in Bengal before. It is true that political violence is rising and that is really a matter of concern for all. This time the electoral battle is so intense for all the stakeholders that political animosity is touching an all-time low.

Enough has been written and discussed on political violence in Bengal, and the truth is every party in Bengal has resorted to violence, and political rivalry today has become so high-pitched because the BJP has been eyeing Bengal to compensate for their possible electoral losses in UP and other northern states.

The narrative of BJP gaining in Bengal has been systematically disseminated in the media and in the public domain for the last three years and that has energised the BJP cadres and the leadership. Every attempt has been made to communalise the Bengali public sphere. I have written on this in detail in the Economic and Political Weekly last year after violence erupted during the Ram Navami celebration. Bengal never experienced such communally surcharged celebration of Ram Navami.

Also read: The Chant of Hindu Chauvinism – Ram Navami in Kolkata

This year too people were apprehensive in Asansol on the eve of the Ram Navami celebration, I can hardly remember Ram Navami being celebrated in such a weaponised and political way. For me, this is a systematic and calibrated form of violence that has attempted to hegemonise the Bengali mindset through an overdose of bellicose Hindutva.

It is interesting to see how it gets reflected in the poll results. During the Left Front rule, there used to be political violence, but the Bengali public sphere was never so communally charged the way it is today.

BJP has done aggressive communal campaign across Bengal. Could you tell me how it has affected relations between religious communities? Are relations changing on the ground in Asansol? Becoming more tense?

To my mind, this is the worst form of politics and the BJP has been doing only that – communal polarisation. I have seen people openly speaking against the minority community, something I can't remember happening so brazenly in the past. Various comments and counter-comments in the social media during the Balakote strike were so openly communal that I shuddered to believe that these are being uttered in Bengal.

The so-called syncretic culture of Bengal is perhaps retreating and this exhibition of rabid communalism erases the cultural difference between Bengal and the northern states of India.

Things that one expected to see in the cow belt are happening here as well. Saffronisation has made inroads, and there is political resistance to it and the battle is emanating from there. It is fierce in many areas and my own experience tells me that minorities are deeply scared, they are feeling alienated and feeling apprehensive about their future. Hatred rules the roost and that is becoming the norm. This is dangerous politics.

What is your overall assessment of the situation in Bengal? How has the campaign in the state been different from the campaigns in the past?

Everyone recalls the electoral campaign during 2011 in Bengal, it was a tectonic shift in terms of political change. At that time too there was intense political bitterness but this time, politics has become vicious and dirty because of communalisation and an unabashed show of money power of the BJP.

How could they get so much funding for this high-velocity campaign? Who funds them? Nobody questions this. Had there been political alliances in Bengal against the BJP, things would have been better but I am disheartened to see that not happening.

Also watch: Is the 2019 Election Proof That the Bengal Renaissance Has Failed?

The Left too has failed to galvanize itself to ward off the communal forces. The Left seems to be more at loggerheads with the current ruling regime than with the BJP. One expected more from the Left as it is traditionally known for its progressive onslaughts against all forms of divisive politics. I am scandalised to see that no one is talking about jobs, about the Jet Airways downfall, about economic growth, about farmers.

The BJP campaign has so far been focused on a presidential model of image making and popularity gimmicks in which real issues are being swept aside. This is indeed unexpected in a thriving democracy.

On Monday, at a Bengal rally, the prime minister warned Mamata Banerjee that 40 TMC legislators are "in touch with him" and will desert the party after the elections. What kind of a message did the prime minister send out?

This is shameful on the part of a prime minister to make such statements. This is an open allurement and justification of horse trading and this will lead to the destruction of democracy. This is in my view structural violence which is being used by the BJP with total impunity.

I wonder what the people in Bengal think about it, but the problem is people seldom pay attention to such unabashed instances of money power and political manipulations. People are being swayed by non-issues and most of the time they fail to see cases of systemic violence such as political defection.

The BJP has mastered the art of packaging horse trading as electoral normalcy. They did it in Goa and also in the Northeast. They tried to do that in Karnataka recently but failed. They are frantically trying to do the same in Bengal

What are the political, social and cultural implications of BJP's strong electoral presence in the state?

This is a very important question and I really feel disturbed while answering this. I have already spoken at length on the rapid communalisation of the Bengali public sphere because of the divisive political campaign of the BJP, and I do not know what is in store for all of us.

Today's Bengali population participating in various debates in the social media on communalisation of politics seem to be a far cry from the popular idea the Bengali Bhadralok, known for his cultural singularity and intellectual pursuits. I cannot identify myself with the Ram Navami participants brandishing swords (even children are not spared) in Bengal, I also fail to recognise the shrill communal language of many of our fellow Bengalis.

So yes, culturally Bengal has seen changes in recent times. I have already spoken on the political and electoral changes.

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