Avijit Chandra Das, chairperson of the Right-wing outfit Hindu Suraksha Samiti (HSS), shot to prominence as a 'Hindutva leader' in West Bengal following the Bharatiya Janata Party's win this year in the state. Proclaiming that 'retribution' as his primary objective, Das organised a 'Direct Action Day' under the aegis of the HSS at Jadavpur in Kolkata on August 16. The event called for a 'Jihad-mukt' Bengal.
A promotional message for the event, posted by Das on his Facebook page on July 30, featured a song in Bengali, whose lyrics, when translated to English, read: "Razakars of '46, leave this country/Your place lies across the river/This land belongs to our fathers and grandfathers."
According to Das's ideology, because the partition of Bengal at the time of India's independence was carried out along religious lines, and because both Bangladesh and Pakistan are Muslim-majority countries, Hindus are entitled to an exclusive claim over the land of India — and, by extension, Bengal.
This communal messaging, along with outright calls for violence against the Muslim community, was prevalent throughout his speech at the event at Jadavpur. "They will live in our country, eat our food, wear our clothes, engage in 'Love Jihad' with our women, occupy our lands. We won't tolerate this anymore. Anywhere we spot any green flags, we'll beat them bloody," he said.
"We won't let a single 'Jihadi' live. Our ancestors bought this country in exchange of their blood, and with power. We won't let them [Muslims] have their rights in this country — only Hindus will live here, only Hindus will get employment, and engage in business. Only Hindus will enjoy their rights," Das declared to an audience that responded with loud applause and chants of 'Jai Sri Ram'.
https://vimeo.com/1219402797?fl=pl&fe=sh
Further, Das attempted to incite the crowd to destroy a statue of the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin close to where the gathering was being held, arbitrarily blaming him as one of the many figures responsible for the Partition of India, and Bengal. "Lenin is the reason why our country got divided. Why are they protecting his statue?", questioned Das.
https://vimeo.com/1219403717?fl=pl&fe=cm
Despite Das's claims being categorically unfounded, members of the HSS engaged in a heated scuffle with the police, who obstructed the crowd's demand of demolishing the statue.
Registered under the The Societies Registration Act, 1860, ostensibly with no political affiliation or motivation, the HSS portrays itself as a community outreach organisation, mobilising Hindus across the state, and championing the cause for a 'Hindu Homeland' — a Bengal bereft of Muslims.
The HSS has no well-documented history, with only a Facebook page to its name. Based on data available on the outfit online, it appears to active only in West Bengal, with various divisional heads spread across districts in the state.
The 'Hindu Banga' Agenda
On his Facebook page, Das has gone as far as to advocate for changing the name of West Bengal to 'Hindu Banga' (Hindu Land), making Hinduism the 'state religion', a complete economic boycott of Muslims, removal of loudspeakers from mosques in the state, and the reclamation of the 'Adinath Temple' near the site of the 14th century Adina Mosque in Malda, among several other propositions specifically targeting the Muslim community.
A barrage of accusations including 'Love Jihad', 'Land Jihad', 'Employment Jihad', 'Economic Jihad' as well as the newest addition of 'Cockroach Jihad' are abundant in his Facebook posts against the community.
On May 18, the HSS had submitted a notice to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, stating four demands: a 100 per cent employment reservation for Hindu Bengalis in both government and private sectors, a 'Bengali Hindu Land Protection Bill' and a 'Bengali Hindu Marriage Act' that would prohibit land transfers and inter-faith marriages, respectively, between Hindus and Muslims, as well as the creation of an alternative 'Gurukul Education Board' in West Bengal to teach children the ways of Sanatan Dharma.
On July 6, speaking at another HSS event organised on occasion of the birth anniversary of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Das declared that people who have qualms about singing Vande Mataram, those who do not respect the Gaumata, or hold no regard for Sanatani values, have no right to stay in this country.
In the same speech, he also claimed that “terrorists are created in madrasas,” invoking al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to portray Islamic educational institutions as breeding grounds for terrorism. "In Hindu Bengal, there is no tolerance for Jihadis," he announced from the stage to loud cheers.
Land 'Reclaimation', Calls For Radicalisation
Along with HSS members, Das has posted several videos purportedly "reclaiming land" that had allegedly once belonged to Hindus and had been illegally occupied through 'Land Jihad'. In several of these videos, the members mark the "reclaimed land" by installing visual markers of their victory: saffron flags or banner flexes of the organisation itself. Das further proposed a 'Bengali Hindu Homeland Tax', which would require people living in 'Hindu Bengal' to pay taxes, to participate in the economy.
At a speech delivered during an HSS meeting on June 6 at Raiganj, Avijit Das talks about the alleged historical grievances of Bengali Hindus, once again painting Muslims as the perpetrators of these perceived injustices. "Will we forget it all? Won't we get retribution? It is for our revenge alone that our ancestors have remained in West Bengal; this has kept us alive as Hindus. We have not forgotten, to this day, the brutality you [Muslims] had unleashed," he said, while strongly denouncing the constitutionally enshrined principle of secularism.
Das has also posted multiple videos showing HSS members forcibly stopping vehicles carrying cattle, alleging that they are determined to ensure "cow protection". Das, a self-proclaimed gaurakshak (cow-protector) himself, makes appearances in several such videos.
The 'Adinath Mandir' Campaign
In their bid to build a temple at the site in Malda where the Adina Mosque stands since the 14th century, the HSS organised a padyatra. Beginning on July 20 at Hooghly's Tarakeshwar Dham, proceeding through Arambagh, Bhediya, Sainthia, Nalhati, Dhuliyan, and culminating at Malda on July 27, the padyatra rallied for building of the 'Adinath Mandir' a temple supposedly destroyed 800 years ago at the mosque's site.
"We could not participate in the the Ram Mandir movement, we were not fortunate enough to get involved. But we need all of you to get involved in the Adinath Mandir movement," Das had said.
On July 27, the HSS also performed a rudrabhishek puja of a shivaling that they had allegedly transported all the way from Hooghly's Takakeshwar, to a shrine located near the ASI-protected Adina Mosque complex. Thousands of devotees reached the spot, to offer puja to the deity.
Speaking to The Wire, Das informed that the HSS had filed a PIL to allow for puja proceedings within the premises of the mosque complex in the coming year. He reportedly warned that they would go ahead with the puja, notwithstanding whether the court order comes in their favour or not.
Sustained Online Rhetoric Of Exclusion
Das's rhetoric rests on the belief that Bengali Hindus were deprived of their rights when India adopted secularism as a constitutional principle. Through his online presence on Facebook and his public speeches at HSS events and rallies, he portrays this as an oppression that has continued for nearly a century, and argues that all 'Jihadis' — a pejorative label for Muslims generally — should be sent to Bangladesh, which he claims is morally obliged to accommodate them.
West Bengal, in his vision, should belong exclusively to Hindus — the ideological basis for his call for a "Hindu Banga". In a Facebook post on June 18, Das wrote (translated from Bengali): "West Bengal belongs only to Bengali Hindus. Tenants should not confuse themselves as the landowner." In another Facebook post on July 2, he wrote: "There is no point merely calling India a 'Hindu Rashtra', you have to ensure it becomes so. This process will commence in Bengal."
Similarly, in a speech made during another padyatrain Birbhum's Nalhati area for the establishment of the 'Adinath temple' on July 24, Das reiterated: "West Bengal will show the way for a Hindu Rashtra ought to be created."
He continued: "We don't care what's happening in Delhi, but if we see a single cockroach in West Bengal, we will thrash them," he says, before concluding with a threat to anyone who dares disrespect the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi or West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. "We Sanatanis and Bajrangis know very well how to ensure that they cross the river. We won't need long, if we get permission for even one hour from our Dada [Adhikari], we will show them how the barbed fences are to be crossed."
Last week, in yet another video message, he proclaimed, "Our India has always been a Hindu-Rashtra, and will remain so. How do we ensure it? West Bengal's Sanatani Hindus, under the initiative of the Hindu Suraksha Samiti, will demonstrate how."
Hand-in-hand With BJP
Members of HSS, including Das, met and felicitated West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari after he assumed office on May 18. Posting a video of the interaction, Das wrote: "With Dada’s blessings and support, today, on behalf of the Hindu Suraksha Samiti, we felicitated and extended our greetings to the honourable Chief Minister, Shri Suvendu Adhikari, and presented him with a beautiful half-bust [statue] of Gopal Mukherjee."
In the months leading up to BJP's victory in the West Bengal assembly polls, Das's Facebook posts revealed that he travelled extensively across the state and delivered similar monologues carrying Islamophobic stereotypes and positioning Hindus as being in danger. Among them, we found several posts in support of the BJP — on April 23, Das wrote: "BJP is coming [to power in the State] and Jihadi's are leaving."
After the BJP came to power in West Bengal on May 4, the following day, Das exalted the party's victory, with the message: "We have only occupied the government for now. Land, water, business, employment — everything will be taken over by Bengali Hindus."
Alt News reached out to Das for comment, but did not receive a response till publication time.
न्यूज़ हिमाचली News Himachali | हिमाचल की No. 1 हिंदी वेबसाइट CM योगी का बड़ा बयान, UP में सभी भर्ती परीक्षाओं के लिए बने एक एज...
तहकीकात न्यूज़ GORAKHPUR सपा झंडे रंग में रगा गया गोरखपुर में शौचालय,सपा जिलाध्यक्ष ने दिया ज्ञापन जताया विरोध VARANASI भार...
न्यूज़ हिमाचली News Himachali | हिमाचल की No. 1 हिंदी वेबसाइट जब सोफिया हयात ने रोहित शर्मा और विराट कोहली को लेकर किए अश्लील ...
न्यूज़ हिमाचली News Himachali | हिमाचल की No. 1 हिंदी वेबसाइट एक मोबाइल फोन और 7000 रुपये, कैसे इस स्कूली छात्र ने चंद महीनों ...
तहकीकात न्यूज़ किसानों के मुंह से निवाला छीन कर जिम्मेदारों ने केवल अपनी जेब भरनी चाही यूपी सरकार ने जारी की अनलॉक-4 की गा...
Hello, my name is Ankit Sahu. I'm a 25 year old self-employed Pirate from the Chhindwara.