IS SPEAKING BANGLA/PROFESSING ISLAM A "CRIME"!
KAJAL CHATTERJEE
If due to certain reasons, a semblance of doubt crops up regarding nationality of an individual or a family (and if found foreigner, whether he/she is staying in India legally/illegally); of course it remains the prime duty of the police to question them and check their documents (however if they are harassed in the name of verification and later found that they are legal citizens of India or visiting/staying in India legally, then the investigators must also be taken to task for the mental torture against innocents).
But that does not mean that just because an individual or group is/are speaking in a particular language and/or professing particular religion, both deemed "wrong" ; immediately they must be brought under scrutiny, their privacy homes or shanties invaded in the name of "search" and packed to police station for "questioning" and relief would be provided to them only when documents can be furnished according to the "satisfaction" of the investigators!
Necessary documents of my father, being an ex-Government servant, can be easily furnished. But what about my grandfather (just like our known ancestors) who had never seen erstwhile East Bengal in whole lifetime! No, myself have not inherited even a single piece of document which can prove the Indian citizenship of my grandfather! Now does that mean he was not an Indian citizen and myself can be despatched to lockup or jail unless I succeed in "satisfying" the investigating agencies!
Yes answers must be demanded how can the homes of full fledged citizens of India be systematically raided and even detained in police stations just for their "sin" of speaking Bangla, specially if they profess Islam!
Be it the State agencies or the self-declared non-State actors ie the self-declared "guardians" of "Indian nationalism" - - it seems their only aim in the life or career is to torture the Bangla-speaking Muslim citizens of India on the pretext of "nab Bangladeshis"!
Very recently as many as eight construction workers from Bengal have been stripped, beaten up mercilessly and paraded through the streets of Sundargarh town in Western Odisha (with their hands tied) after just one of them was accused of "misbehaving" with a woman! The mob took them for "Bangladeshi" nationals though they hailed from Murshidabad district in Bengal!
These type of bizarre incidents are consistently happening from New Delhi to Karnataka, Maharashtra to Assam, often Bengali Hindus also not getting spared! It seems professing Islam or speaking Bangla has become a "crime" in "New India" with the "most unpardonable offenders" are those who commit the "Double crime" of taking birth as a Bangla - speaking Muslim with the "third crime" surely of venturing outside West Bengal for work by virtue of their rights as enshrined in the Constitution of India!
And this is the exact reason why Bengalis (specially of working class) get brutally murdered in the flimsy pretext of "consuming/possessing Beef" "theft" "misbehavior towards women" "engaging in love jihad" "Bangladeshi" and what not right from Haryana to Gujarat, Rajasthan to Odisha, Assam to even Kerala! What a cruel attitude towards that community whose unfathomable sacrifice through lives, blood, career and land just for the sake of India's Independence from foreign rule far exceeds the sacrifices which people of the rest of the Indian states have done even combinedly!
Despite West Bengal being an open ground for people of all Indian states to enjoy its resources, land, jobs, business, educational opportunities and what not(often even at the expense of the indigenous Bengalis); how scandalously Bengalis continue to get awarded such a raw inhuman fatal deal in their own country ie in several parts of India!
If the mighty Indian State always remain so "terrified" of "Bangladeshis", then it must monitor the Indo-Bangla international border sincerely. Yes, the Eastern border of India is not guarded by the police of Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal Government. So instead of accusing TMC for alleged "infiltration" and chasing Indian citizens of Bangla speaking and/or Islamic vintage; the Central authorities must perform their duty of protecting the international border with honesty and sincerity to stop the alleged infiltration.
Also no lesser shocking is the unilateral invasion of West Bengal by the Delhi police to verify the credentials of Bengali migrants settled in the Indian capital, without taking the police of the state Government into confidence ie without caring to even inform about their investigation in the state! Does all spirit of federalism gone for toss in this conglomeration of states named India or just the state of West Bengal can be taken for granted!