ISLAMIC TAKEOVER OF WEST BENGAL AND THE NORTHEAST

I am regularly on twitter, and a few days back I had tweeted two observations of mine: (a) That Muslims are buying real property in Kolkata and environs at a brisk pace, and often paying prices for them well above that prevailing in the market; and (b) That huge Mosques are springing up in remote corners of this state. I also observed, within the confines of twitter, that it would be extremely naïve, even dishonest, to suggest that there is no pattern behind this.

The response to these observations was quite large, even overwhelming. Two things stand out from these responses. First, a lot of people, including one in the real estate business, confirmed and reconfirmed my observations. Secondly, a number from Kerala confirmed that the same phenomenon was manifest in Kerala also in a big way. Interestingly, no one contended that it’s not happening, that there is no such phenomenon, that it is just a ‘communal’ fulmination on my part; nor, ‘so what’ if Muslims do take over? But then, those types are not among the 3000-plus who follow me on twitter.

Two observations, two important responses, and now two questions: Where is the money for purchasing all these properties and setting up all these mosques coming from? And whoever is spending this money: WHY is/are he/she/they doing it?

The first question is simple to answer. It is coming from Saudi Arabia. No other country (well, maybe Kuwait and Qatar, too) has the money to do all this. And most importantly, no other country has the MOTIVATION.

The second question, is equally simple – unless one has rendered oneself blind by the Nehruvian brand of secularism. The question WHY concerns the motivation  behind this. And that motivation can only be trying to turn a section of Dar-ul-Harb into Dar-ul-Islam. For those unfamiliar with the terms, the first means ‘Land of Strife’, in other words, where Islam has not been accepted by all and Islamists are busy doing Jihad to establish that rule. And the second, ‘Land of Peace’, where Islamic rule has established and therefore everyone is happy and peaceful. Now don’t you question what is happening in countries like Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, countries where practically everybody has accepted Islam, why Muslims there are killing one another – we’re all sure that is a different matter altogether, that there is American or other capitalist provocation behind all this. It is the duty of every Momin (ardent believer in Islam) to wage Jihad and convert  every bit of Dar-ul-Harb into Dar-ul-Islam. Now, this is important: Unbelievers are allowed to live in Dar-ul-Islam provided they are not idolaters. Jews and Christians are allowed to repair their churches and synagogues, but not erect any new church or synagogue; and in the existing ones no ostentation is permitted. In other words there is no question of any Hindu, Buddhist or Zoroastrian being allowed to live and worship in Dar-ul-Islam. A very good way to do all this is to acquire property in Dar-ul-Harb, and then kill, shoo away or, still, better, convert the unbelievers living there. This very process seems to be under way.

What is the process and how does it work? Several ways. First the straightforward way, where a Muslim appears on the scene and offers a price for a Hindu-owned property well above the market price. The Hindu cannot resist the temptation and sells it to him. In this way several properties in a locality are acquired by Muslims. Suddenly one sees a lot of skull-cap clad men and burqa-clad women where there were none before.

Then one of the properties is converted into a Waqf. Then a Mosque is built on that property. Then Muslims congregate there regularly. Azaan is read from that Mosque five times a day over a loudspeaker without caring for decibels, although neither the Quran nor any Haadis enjoin the use of loudspeakers for the purpose. The first Azaan is at some unearthly hour in the morning. Hindus cannot sleep – but then they are Hindus, so they grumble but do nothing else. Some, the more ‘secular’ among such Hindus even justify it as ‘minority rights’ and extol the virtues of early rising. One of two approach the local councillor, MLA or police, beginning their complaint with, “We fully accept the rights of Muslims to etc. etc. but….”.  The local councillor, MLA or police smile, tell them the same story about minority rights and extol the virtues of early rising.

Then a butcher shop selling beef is opened there. The sight of the carcasses and the yellowed fat glistening on the bodies of what used to be pavitra gomata disturb the Hindus. The smell of beef being cooked wafts all over the locality and enters the nostrils of Hindus. Young Muslim men, in lungis and banyans, or Black pyjama suits strut about, on foot and motorcycles. Occasionally they look at nubile Hindu girls, smile lewdly and sometimes scratch their privates. The Hindus, especially the fathers and brothers of the girls, are upset. But being Hindus, they grumble and do nothing else.

Then on Id day, a cow is slaughtered in full view of the Hindus. The blood runs down the roadside gutter and some of it collects in front of a choked gullypit. The stench of stale bovine blood is everywhere.

Now some of the Hindus begin to do something more than grumble. They put their property up for sale. They send their girls away to hostels or to relatives living in Hindu-majority areas. The property for sale is lapped up by Muslims at lucrative prices. Both sides are happy. The Hindus move out. The area becomes completely Muslimized.

There is a variant of this. The Muslims hunt through land records and discover lands which had been made Waqf in the ancient past, usually in the 1950s when a lot of Muslims moved to East Pakistan. Those lands were abandoned by the Muslims when they moved to Pakistan in the 1950s, and had been transacted.  The Muslims reclaim those Waqf lands. The administration is all help. Then the above cycle begins.

In this way the land is converted from Dar-ul-Harb into Dar-ul-Islam. Bit by bit, piece by piece. From an exclusively Hindu locality to an exclusively Muslim one. They elect a Muslim councilor, Muslim MLA. A Muslim MP is just one step away. The political parties all oblige. The Hindus all move out peacefully, one by one. And if somebody protests his or her protest is drowned in a din of ‘secularism’.

No one ever dreams of making a political issue out of this. After all, minority rights are a scared thing in a secular state, isn’t it? And every major political party (possibly with one exception) has its tongue hanging out for Muslim votes, which come in a block.

Then, when a chunk of territory is converted into Dar-ul-Islam, the time for overt action arrives. The ‘secular’, Hindu-led political parties are kicked out and virulent Islamist parties emerge. Parties like the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, the IUML in Kerala,  

Badruddin Ajmal-led AUDF in Assam. Mullahs-turned-political leaders take centrestage. Leaders like Siddiqullah Chowdhury of West Bengal wait in the wings.

‘Secular’ political parties like Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, who are bending over backwards to get Muslim votes, and had gone overboard with measures like allowances for Imams and Muezzins and reservations for Muslims, now pull out all stops. They engineer anti-Hindu riots and openly help and encourage the rioters.

Some men among Hindus die, some women are raped. The remaining Hindus, highly ‘secular’, of the state couldn’t care less. It is no skin off their backs, just some unconfirmed reports of ‘some incidents of a communal nature’ somewhere in the outback. The media obliges. No news leaks out.

Is a communal, BJP-wala Tathagata Roy imagining all this? It has happened in Deganga, in Distt. North 24-Parganas, West Bengal, where Trinamool MP Haji Nurul Islam of Basirhat landed with a bunch of goons to loot Hindu property on 6^th September, 2010. It has happened in Gobra in Kolkata City in June 2010 where a small plot of land in a Hindu pocket was suddenly declared Waqf, and Muslims descended on it to offer Namaz. In the same Gobra, in October 2009 during Jagaddhatri Puja immersion Muslims attacked a procession and desecrated the idol of Devi Jagaddhatri. In Canning, in Distt South 24-Parganas, in February 2013 houses of Hindus were looted and burnt and Hindu idols were desecrated.

Another drama is played in West Bengal and Assam, simultaneously with the above described land grab operation. Between 1951 and 2011, the percentage of Hindus in Bangladesh / East Pakistan has gone down from 29% to about 9%. This is only natural, because Bangladesh / East Pakistan is a Muslim majority country, and there they will naturally persecute Hindus – what is so surprising about that? But, very interestingly, the percentage of Hindus in the Hindu-majority Indian state of West Bengal has also gone down – from 80% to 70%. In Assam it has gone down from 84% to less than 60%. Three districts in West Bengal, Eight in Assam, and even three in Bihar – Katihar, Araria and Kishangunj – have become or are about to become Muslim majority. And all this is due to Muslim infiltration from Bangladesh as well as greater procreation by Muslims.

The ultimate step is what happened to the Kashmiri Pandits in the Vale of Kashmir. They get driven out. The rest of the Hindus of the country do not care. What have we got to do with Kashmiri Pandits, they ask themselves? Bloody exclusivist lot, so proud of their good looks and fair complexion! Perhaps there were historical reasons! Perhaps they used to look down on the Muslims! Kashmir is so far away! Who cares, anyway?

West Bengal is the worst affected state. The major political parties, namely Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) have, as it were, conspired to do all this. But Mamata Banerjee has surpassed all in her brazenness. Can you imagine the Hindu Chief Minister of any other state donning an Islamic Hijab and pretending to offer Namaz, and the rest of the a state practically not batting an eyelid about it! There is consciousness about this in Assam. Kerala does not have a border with a Muslim-majority country. But in West Bengal – no consciousness, yes Muslim neighbour, and yes a Chief Minister with her tongue hanging out like Ma Kali for Muslim votes!

Is there time still left to correct all this? Maybe no, maybe just. THINK!