West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has submitted to Union Home Minister Amit Shah his report on the communal violence in Murshidabad last month, flagging the state police’s “failures” and proposing a commission of inquiry into the incident.
In the report, the Governor also said that radicalisation and militancy pose a serious challenge for West Bengal, especially in Murshidabad and Malda districts, which share borders with Bangladesh.
The violence in Murshidabad, which took place in the wake of the new Waqf law, claimed three lives on April 11. While a man was killed in police firing, another man and his son died in mob violence.
In his report, Governor Bose said, “To go by the history of political violence that the state is prone to and from the spillover effect that the Murshidabad violence had over other districts in the state, may I suggest that the Government of India consider the Constitutional options not only to put a check on the current situation but also to generate confidence of the people in the Rule of Law.”
He suggested “formulating an overarching legislation to empower the Union Government to maintain law and order when the state machinery fails to act effectively”.
Bose also sought the “reinstating/setting up of central forces outposts/BSF outposts on their jurisdictional limit in the vulnerable districts along the international border”.
“An issue that is seldom voiced is the concern that is felt over the role of certain fundamentalist Islamist groups, which are seeking to mobilise Muslim opinion, using the subtext of ‘Islam in danger’. The twin spectre of radicalisation and militancy poses a serious challenge for West Bengal, especially in two of the several districts sharing the international border with Bangladesh – Murshidabad and Malda,” said Bose, who toured Murshidabad on April 18 and 19.
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“In both these districts, there is an adverse demographic composition with Hindus being minorities. Another district, Uttar Dinajpur, has a plurality.
Growing polarisation on communal lines and greater emphasis on violence and violent activities is only likely to exacerbate this situation.”
“While the state government has been successful in dealing with various issues such as organised ultra-Left militancy, the authorities continue to flounder while dealing with communal conflagrations and ordinary and routine law and order situations, specially issues such as rape and campus violence,” the Governor wrote.
Incidentally, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to visit Murshidabad on Monday for the first time since the violence broke out.
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The Governor also said that “infiltration from Bangladesh needs to be halted, and fencing of the international border must be assessed and completed. “During the political turmoil in Bangladesh in 2024, there were reports of increasing attempts of migration from Bangladesh to Bengal,” he said.
In his report, Bose claimed that the violence appeared “premeditated” and the state government was “aware of the imminent build-up of a threat to law and order in Murshidabad”.
“The sequence of events that unfolded show the woeful lack of coordination among administration and law enforcement agencies that were either too feeble to rise up to the challenge or were reluctant to do so,” he wrote in his report.
Responding to the charges, TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumder said, “The Governor is working as a party cadre of the BJP to enhance the party’s backdoor entry in the state, but his plan will not be successful. The Union government cannot impose central control over the state or interfere in its matters. It will be challenged not only in the Supreme Court, but also by the people of Bengal.”
