Ramification | The horror of Sandeshkhali and demographic takeover of Bengal

Since the story broke out on Sandeshkhali in West Bengal, many political statements have been passed. While a few Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders have asked for proof of rape, some have stopped short of vilifying the aggrieved, questioning the veracity of their accusations.

Even though the Hindu women of Sandeshkhali have spoken out clearly, stating that they have endured systematic abuse at the hands of the police and the TMC, there have been no sympathisers from within the party ranks. Victims have alleged that during “party meetings”, they were molested and feared speaking out because of the repercussions they had to endure.

According to reports, they were beaten viciously enough to be hospitalised for days on end by prime accused Shahjahan Sheikh and his henchmen. Shahjahan Sheikh is one of the most influential leaders within the TMC; he wields power beyond the Sandeshkhali area in North 24 Parganas and has a stack of cases to his name, from assault to murder.

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Absconding since January 5 and nothing recommending his innocence, it is anything but surprising that the TMC has only suspended Sheikh’s aide Noor. The easiest offering the TMC could make to the Hindu women of Sandeshkhali who are refusing to back down this time around Possibly because they know that if they back down without ensuring kingpin Sheikh’s arrest, the TMC leaders in the areas will settle scores with them for daring to raise their voice.

One resident whose daughter went missing recounted that when she went to file a complaint, the police asked her to get consent from the prime accused, Sheikh Shahjahan, or his men, Shibu Hazra or Uttam Sardar, alias Noor Alam (a practice found in West Bengal wherein converts do not change their previous Hindu names). Another resident said she had to send her daughter-in-law to Madhya Pradesh because she was beautiful, and beautiful women were not spared by Shahjahan Sheikh.

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So, when TMC spokespersons like Kunal Ghosh, without fear of public judgement or at the very least karmic retribution, brazenly question the authenticity of these claims, or worse, make asinine statements like Adivasi women of Sandeshkhali are easily identifiable, unlike the women complaining who are all “fair-complexioned”, it is but natural for one to question the normalisation of violence in West Bengal.

In the age of “Me Too”, where the repercussions for the accused were harsh and vilification almost immediate, it is surprising to see the absence of social justice warriors who have raged at every incident from Gaza to Delhi.

TMC’s self-proclaimed Ma Durga, Mahua Moitra, has also adopted an uncharacteristic dignified silence. Surely, this highly educated woman would know that her silence cannot abandon the fact that the state of West Bengal stood first in women trafficking in India.

As per the 2016 National Crime Record Bureau, the number of women trafficked was 3,579, and in 2017, the number suspiciously went down to 357.

It is important to point out here that these numbers are sent from the state to the centre. And if truly the West Bengal police had managed this record decrease in numbers, then they should have taken the opportunity to put a paper out on their stellar achievement to at least counter women’s organisations who alleged that the West Bengal police had registered FIR’s as kidnappings and not trafficking. However, there were accusations that the police were protecting trafficking agents.

A woman whose daughter went missing and is yet to be found also claimed that in Basanti block (in north Sandeshkhali), there is one girl child missing in every four houses. Reportedly, this horrific fact was corroborated by a social worker in the area. The claim itself should be enough to hold the state government responsible and for them to display some humility. In 2022, 40,725 women and 10,571 girls went missing from West Bengal, the highest numbers in the country.

A senior officer of the state’s anti-human trafficking units in an anonymous statement made to The Hindu said that South and North 24 Parganas clocked the highest number of missing cases for years. Child trafficking, too, was the highest here.

In addition to the trafficked, sexually abused, and missing Hindu women and children, Sandeshkhali has the distinction of a suspicious demographic change where Hindus have become a minority. Hindus are also a minority in 10 blocs of North 24 Parganas, in 16 blocs of South 24 Parganas, and in all the blocs of the Sunderbans area.

There has also been a massive jump in population in many border towns, such as Basirhat sub-division of North 24 Parganas, where between 2009 and 2019, voters increased by five lakhs. There are many such examples of sudden demographic change in the area, along with accusations of land grabbing.

After the 1977 land reforms by the Left Front government in West Bengal, many of the middle classes left the area in search of alternative livelihoods, while the poor farmers were either coerced into selling their land to the likes of Shahjahan or their lands were forcibly taken.

In Hindu-minority Sandeshkhali, the problems are many, from unabated crime against Hindu women to demographic change to land grabbing. However, to see each of these issues in isolation would be a narrow view that would only point towards a broken socioeconomic model. But to analyse the gamut of problems as a whole would bring a larger understanding of what lies beneath the “tip of the iceberg” that has emerged with the Hindu women of Sandeshkhali coming out in the open.

All permutations of analysis point to the larger design of demographic engineering. An exercise to shift the ethnic balance of the area in favour of an ethnically homogenous population. Demographic engineering includes coerced population transfer, resettlement, ethnic cleansing, and, in the worst case, genocide.

Political analyst John McGarry, who has written some of the most influential books on ethnic conflict, identifies demographic engineering with state policies but also accepts the existence of “a grey area where state representatives use surrogates to inflict violence on minorities”.

The case of Sandeshkhali fits all the criteria of demographic engineering, with Shahjahan Sheikh being the “surrogate”.

Nevertheless, it is for the country to see when and if the absconding “surrogate” is arrested. But with pressure mounting on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the chances are that even if she loses one “surrogate”, there are many others who will be ready to take his place.

In a conducive political environment with a despondent Hindu population, the Shahjahans of West Bengal will continue to thrive, and the women of Sandeshkhali will continue to suffer, until the demographics of the state are engineered to the satisfaction of CM Banerjee.

The writer is an anthropologist, author and scholar specialising in the northeast region of India. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._