Murder And Arson In Bugtoi Village Lays Bare The Educational And Social Backwardness Of Muslims In Rural Bengal
Bengali
Speaking Muslims Of Rural Areas Have Been Left Alone By The Government And
Muslim Intelligentsia.
Main
Points:
1. Poverty and
unemployment among the rural Muslims are very high.
2. 80 per cent
Muslims of West Bengal live in villages.
3. Only 3.6 per
cent Muslims in villages have completed secondary education.
4. Only 1.7 per
cent Muslims in villages are graduates.
5. Village
Muslims are hot headed.
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New
Age Islam Staff Writer
27 April
2022
Family members of Birbhum violence victims. (Express
Photo)
-----
On 21 March
2022, one of the worst cases of massacre and arson took place in a village
named Bugtoi, about 250 kilometres from Kolkata in West Bengal. Ten people
including a 7 year old girl was burnt alive after the deputy Pradhan Bhadu
Sheikh was killed by unknown persons. The family of Mahilal Sheikh were killed
in retaliation. One year ago, Bhadu Shaikh 's brother was also killed. The
accused in the massacre is Anarul Hussain, who is a TMC leader of the area and
wields political clout.
The
massacre is said to be a fall out of political and business rivalry. The
population of the Muslims in the village is 35 per cent but unemployment and
illiteracy rate is high among the Muslims of the village. The village falls
under Birbhum district in which the famous Visva-Bharati University is located.
The population of the Muslims in the district is also 35 per cent.
The
population of the Muslims in West Bengal is 30 per cent but 80 per cent of the
Muslims live in rural areas. Literacy in rural Muslim community is lower than
in cities and towns. In rural areas literacy rate in Muslims is lower than that
of the Scheduled Castes, a fact mentioned in Sachar Committee report.
In rural
areas, only 3.6 per cent have completed secondary education as compared to 4
per cent among the Scheduled Castes. Only 1.3 per cent Muslims are graduates as
compared to 1.7 among Scheduled Castes.
Birbhum
district is an economically and industrially backward district in West Begal.
Opportunities for employment and livelihood are scant and so the Muslim
community is steeped in poverty. Due to poverty, the parents can not support
the studies of their children. Many drop out after primary level.
Many of
them do not have skills and qualifications to get decent job and so they work
as migrant labourers in Kerala, Delhi or Rajasthan. Those who stay back in the
village, work as masons or daily wage labourers in the village or in the
neighbourhood.
The
condition of the Muslims of Bugtoi is the same. Most of them are unemployed and
so they are involved in illegal mining or illegal sand, coal and stone
business. Anarul Hussain, slain Bhadu Shaikh and Mahilal Shaikh were all
involved in illegal coal, sand and stone business. Anarul Hussain was initially
an ordinary mason but under political patronage, he joined illegal sand, coal
and stone business and gradually became crorepati. There was a rivalry between
Bhadu Shaikh and Mahilal Shaikh over coal and sand business. This led to the
suspicion that Mahilal Shaikh was behind Bhadu Shaikh's murder. All claimed to
belong to the TMC.
But only
business rivalry cannot be the cause of a massacre of this degree. Even if
Mahilal Shaikh was behind Bhadu Shaikh's murder, his entire family including
his 7 year old daughter were not guilty. This was only because of the
illiteracy and the uncivilised way of life of the Muslim community of the
village.
Since there
was lack of education and employment, a powerful section of Muslims was rich
while the majority of the youth spent time in gambling and illegal activities.
Many of them were addicted to illicit liquor. Some of them were involved in
money lending on interest.
Though
there are two or three madrasas and mosques in the village, there was a lack of
Islamic education in the village. The imams of the mosques did not have any
influence in the village as their job was limited to leading the prayer. There
was no reform work among the Muslims. The entry of Tablighi Jamat is banned in
the village. Other religious organisations also do not have any presence in the
village. The Muslims of Bugtoi led a wayward life in the absence of any
reformist movement. Licentiousness is rampant. Dirty politics is what most of
them are involved in.
In many of
the remote villages of West Bengal, the police do not enter without the
permission of the local politicians or the local club enjoying patronage of the
ruling party. The club or the local political committee resolves local
disputes. In Bugtoi too, the police and the fire brigade were kept away by
Anarul Hussain.
The lack of
religious or secular education was not the problem of only the Muslims of
Bugtoi. It is the general phenomenon of the rural Muslim community of West
Bengal. Due to poverty, the Muslim children can not go for higher studies and
are compelled to work as hawkers or labourers. Since, most of the Muslims in
Bengal villages are Bengali speaking, they are not aware of Islamic teachings
due to unavailability of Islamic books in Bengali. Since, they are not aware of
Islamic teachings, they go to any extent when there is a dispute in the family
or close relationship.
It is also
a fact to be noted that the Muslims in villages are hot headed and inclined
towards violence. The Bugtoi village has 65 per cent Hindu population and there
is also political and business rivalry among them but they do not fight among
themselves or kill one another. They are more educated than the Muslims and
know about the repercussions of violence. For Bengalis, violence is the last
thing they will resort to but the Muslims in villages are ever ready to resort
to violence giving little thought to what the results may be.. During the last
days of the Left rule, it was the Bengali Muslims of Medinipur and other districts
who had been involved in political violence against the Left Front government
and most the of the people killed in the anti-Left violence were rural Muslims.
The root of
the problem lies in the fact that all the work of educational and religious
reform of the Muslims are based in towns and cities of West Bengal where Urdu
speaking Muslims are in better condition both in terms of education and
livelihood. Since the majority of Muslims in rural areas are Bengali speaking
Muslims, they are cut off from the educational and religious movements of the
state carried out by Urdu speaking Muslims. Very few Bengali speaking
educationists are working among Bengali speaking Muslims.
In short,
the Muslim leaders and religious organisations should also be held responsible
for what happened in Bugtoi. Political leaders have only exploited them for
their political ends and religious leaders have ignored these rural Muslims and
spent their resources and energies in spreading sectarian hatred in towns and
cities.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/educational-social-backwardness-muslims-bengal/d/126877