No Bahinis, Mamata Di!
Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, miffed by the recent electoral losses and the drubbings her party cadres receive from the political opponents, has valiantly announced setting up her own party’s bahinis too. The Bongo Janani Bahini would be an all-women army led by Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and the other for menfolk has been named ‘Jai Hind Bahini,’ led by her brother Karthik Banerjee with Bratya Basu as the Chairman.
Religious or political groups have often been forming their own frontal organisations to impose their dictums on others. In most cases, they had grown into Frankensteins, beyond the control of their masters until they were put down. We recently witnessed rampage and rioting by the supporters of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the head of Dera Sachha Sauda, over his arrest. Three years ago, a 3000 strong army of Swadhin Bharat Subhas Sena, led by Ram Varishka Yadav had not captured a 220-acre land and killed many policemen when they went to vacate them.
Rampal’s private army attacked the policemen in Barwala, Hisar. There are also caste-based others like Ranvir with 12000 armed men formed by the upper caste landlord militia in Bihar, Kuer Sena that belonged to Rajputs in Bihar, besides a dozen other armies in the state. Valmiki Sena from Punjab, Bajrang Dal, which is the youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Sri Ram Sene, a right-wing outfit from Karnataka, are known for their notoriety, often taking law and order in their own hands. CIA last year had classified the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal as Militant Religious outfits. The private army of Bhindranwale culminated in Operation Blue Star and left an indelible scar on our country.
There is an equal number of Muslim groups as well. Al-Badr (Jammu and Kashmir) All Tripura Tiger Force. Al-Qaeda. Al-Umar-Mujahideen. Babbar Khalsa International to name a few. Then, of course, private armies belonging to the Communist Party of India (Maoist-Leninist) people’s war. There could be nearly 250 private armies in India, which pose a threat to the state and our security.
Shiv Sena, then an army of goons in the 70s and 80s, threatened the peace and the cosmopolitan character of Mumbai when it targeted South Indians, and later all Hindi speaking poor workers, mostly from Bihar and UP. There were no disturbances in West Bengal, save for a brief appearance of Amra Bangali, which was rubbished by the people of Bengal with disdain.
The move by CM Mamata in announcing the Bahinis could spell more considerable trouble, creating a standoff between her party and her main adversary, the BJP initially. But it will not be long, given the indomitable muscle power of a ruling party that they will remain bottled inside the lamps. They could grow to challenge the state one day, causing the dangerous and irretrievable situation, which should be avoided at all costs. I’m appalled at the void of intellectuals near her to advise on sanity and dignity.
Mamata, the CM, also heads the Home Ministry and is now ably supported by a seasoned bureaucrat as the Home Secretary. She should rev up the morale of the police force in the state to restore law and order unless of course, she has completely lost her faith in the police force.
Political bahinis will put the lives of many young men at peril, who may mistakenly think they are dying martyrs, without realising that they would merely be a statistical data.
Madam CM, kindly review and recall the idea of forming Senas and Bahinis, as West Bengal is matured to tolerate and take on religious fundamentalism and intolerance at every level.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
