Growing Incidents Of Violence Among Muslims Of Rural Bengal

By New Age Islam Staff Writer

27 December 2023

Lack Of Islamic Education And Culture The Main Reason Behind The UnIslamic Way Of Life Of Rural Muslims Of Bengal

Main Points:

1.    In March 2022, 8 members of a family in rural Bengal were burnt alive due to political rivalry.

2.    On December 22, 2023, a court sentenced 12 TMC workers for life for killing a CPM worker Humayun Mir.

3.    On 22 December, a TMC worker Shaikh Mateen was killed by two Muslims due to political rivalry.

4.    On February 5, TMC workers Newton Sheikh and Laltu Shaikh were killed due to political rivalry.

5.    Muslims of rural Bengal are aggressive and hot-headed.

6.    Only 3.6 per cent Muslims in villages have completed secondary education.

7.    Only 1.7 per cent Muslims in villages are graduates.

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The outrage over a cartoon has resulted in violence in Baduria, Basirhat and Tentuliya towns

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On December 22, 2023, two news reports in West Bengal indicated a disturbing trend in the Muslim society of West Bengal. A court in West Bengal sentenced 12 TMC workers to life imprisonment for killing a CPM worker Humayun Mir in Rampurhat in Birbhum district. Mir was killed after the results of the Panchayat elections of 2013 came out.

On the same day --- December 22, 2023, a TMC worker named Shaikh Mateen was killed by two Muslims reportedly associated with the BJP following some dispute.

On February 5, 2023, two TMC workers Newton Shaikh and Laltu Shaikh were killed by unknown assailants.

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 were 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 was Anarul Hussain, who was a TMC leader of the area and wields political clout.

The massacre was said to be a fall out of political and business rivalry.

These are only some of the incidents of violence and bloodshed among the Muslims of the rural areas of West Bengal. Most of the killings of Muslims by Muslims are the fall out of political differences and rivalry. Birbhum is the district where most of the political violence takes place among the Muslims. It is to be noted that Birbhum has 37 per cent Muslim population while 67 per cent are Hindus. In rural Bengal, both the Hindus and Muslims are Bengali speaking. People of both the communities earn their livelihood through agriculture, domestic industries or are daily wage earners. If unemployment, poverty and hardship was the reason behind the violence and bloodshed, then more incidents of bloodshed and violence would be reported from.the Hindu community of rural Bengal. But it seems that there are other reasons behind the violent behaviour of rural Muslims of West Bengal.

The Muslims of rural areas of Bengal are Bengali speaking. Therefore, they are cut off from the Urdu speaking Muslim community living in urban areas. The rural Muslims send their children to the Bengali medium government schools. Since there are very few madrasas in rural areas, the children from the Bengali speaking families do not get religious education and lack the knowledge of Islamic culture. In urban areas, children from Urdu speaking families study in Urdu medium schools and simultaneously acquire religious education either at home or in local madrasas. Due to the poverty and unemployment, many children in rural Bengal can't study in schools or don’t pass school final examinations.

The population of the Muslims in the villages in West Bengal is 37 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.

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 Bengal. 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.

Even where madrasas and mosques exist in some villages, there is a lack of Islamic education in the village. The imams of the mosques do not have any influence in the village as their job is limited to leading the prayer. There is no reform work among the Muslims. Dirty politics is what most of them are involved in.

The lack of religious or secular education is not the problem of one village. 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.

Bankura is another backward district of West Bengal where the Bengali speaking Hindus form the majority. But reports of violence and bloodshed do not come from the district very often.

This indicates that the Muslims in villages of West Bengal are hot headed and inclined towards violence. The villages of West Bengal have Hindu population in majority and there is also political and business rivalry among them but they do not fight among themselves or kill one another as much as the Muslims do. 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 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.

Therefore, the educationists, reformers, social workers and intellectuals of West Bengal, particularly Bengali-Muslim intellectuals of the state should take the issue seriously and speed up reform among the Muslims of rural Bengal.

 

URL:   https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/incidents-violence-muslims-rural-bengal/d/131392

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