Monday, December 20, 2010

Our Struggle – Rule of Law and Bakri Id

It is proved yet again that the Muslim society in the Indian state of West Bengal doesn’t have any reverence for the law of the land. It has also been proved whether the government of West Bengal can implement the ruling of High Court on the same Muslim community. We are not in need of evidence any more. It is already known to us – how much Muslims revere the Indian laws, respect Hindu rituals and tradition, how government and administration cope with the simply unjust demands of the Muslim community, and what is the real role of appeasing political parties in this context. We know all these very well and Hindu Samhati is committed to putting an end to such discrimination and injustice.

It is worthwhile to mention that the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court, prior to the last Bakri Id, issued a declaration terming slaughtering of cows on account of Bakri Id as illegitimate. The hearing of the lawsuit took place thanks to the writ petition (W.P. No. 1378 of 2010) filed by Avijit Das, Secretary of Amtala Nagarik Adhikar Raksha Samity (Civil Rights Defence Council of Amtala), in the Division Bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice Ashim Kumar Roy. In accordance with the declaration dated 12 November, 2010, under the aegis of the two Hon’ble Justices, no slaughtering of cows, as part of any ritual, on the day of Bakri Id can be performed. It has also been stated distinctly, Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has also issued the same ruling.

We got the copy of the ruling by the evening of 12 November and without losing time, distributed its Xerox copies among HS activists to submit all those to local police stations. Bakri Id was on 17 November and in the interim, HS workers submitted copies to all police stations across the state and also to higher officials in a war-like effort and exerted strong pressure on the local administration to bring slaughtering of cows to an end.

There was success as well and in a few places, slaughtering was stopped. But in the other places, the tradition of slaughtering cows did happen as usual sticking to the procedure of halal. And in all these cases the local police and administration was found to be the best accomplice of the Muslim community. The one and only reason (in this regard) being police is afraid of thrashing by Muslims more than the ruling of Hon’ble Calcutta High Court. The entire police force in West Bengal is being routed by Muslims and there can’t be any counter-offensive as well. And the reason behind this is not hard to see. Both leading political parties in West Bengal, CPM and Trinamool Congress, are unanimous in this respect; Muslims have become dearer and nearer to them by now. Hence, not a single approach against them shall be tolerated ever. In Deganga, even the military didn’t dare to fire. What can police do then?

Katwa in Burdwan district in West Bengal, major witness to astounding developments, can be taken as a prime example. The village of SriSurura (Suddo), adjacent to Katwa, is inhabited by a populace comprising 90% Hindus and 10% Muslims. The village never witnessed cow slaughter in the past on occasion of Id. Nonetheless, at this time, no less than 80-90 Muslims of the village insisted on slaughtering of cows. What’s more, announcing that there would be Kurbani they also brought a cow in the village. The entire Hindu community was strongly opposed to all these. As a result, they submitted memorandum to both S.D.O. and O.C. containing signatures of 1014 Hindus on November 4.

O.C. of PS: Katwa proved himself unequal to adhering to the law. He asked the Hindus straight, “What problems do you have with cow slaughter? Why are you all taking exceptions to this if they consume their own foods?” The S.D.O. proved himself to be more ingenious. He assured the Hindus that there would be no slaughtering of cows and the tradition would go on devoid of any disturbance. This assurance did satisfy the innocent Hindus and it was quite natural as there had never been any cow slaughter in the village of Suddo. They thought that the administration would do all to prevent slaughtering of cows. But what did happen later on was contrary to their belief.

On the very morning of Bakri Id police was found to bring a matador vehicle from the Katwa police station and put the cow in it. Hindus considered this as the end of all rough-and-tumbles. But the police took the cow to Aker Hut, an adjacent Muslim dominated village. And the cow was slain there in sacrifice conforming to the procedure of halal of Islam. The police again was careful enough to carry the beef to the village of Suddo. What type of endeavor to retain tradition is this? A question started haunting Hindus – is this a way of retaining the dignity of Hon’ble High Court? Is this a way of carrying out the High Court’s ruling?

What can be the conclusion then? Bakri Id of this year states clearly the actual position of court’s ruling, law, administration and Muslims. The Hindus in West Bengal have got to find out their own position based on all these developments. The first and foremost aim of Hindu Samhati is to make Hindus in the Indian state of West Bengal conscious of their own position.

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