As the situation in strife-torn Murshidabad district in West Bengal slowly returns to normal, sitting in his chamber in his house at Ratanpur station crossing, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s MLA from Farakka, Manirul Islam, explains why he left his old house in Dhulian after protests against the Waqf Amendment Act spiralled into violence on April 11.

“I don’t want to disturb peace. That’s why I locked my old house. On April 11, stones were pelted at my house and its CCTV cameras were damaged. They tried but could not break its iron gate. They were young guys.

My security people advised me to stay inside. Later, I along with my mother, brother, wife and daughter moved to this new house,” Manirul said.

“Subsequently, I went back (to Dhulian) with our MP (Khalilur Rehman, Jangipur MP), but the people there raised objections,” he said.

Besides MP Rehman, several TMC MLAs were at the receiving end of the Waqf protesters’ anger, who admit that they had no inkling of the violent turn that the protests took last Friday.They also question the district police for initially not taking the matter seriously.

On April 11, both Rehman and Manirul saw their respective office and home in Dhulian under Samserganj police station being pelted with stones by the agitators.

This occurred despite the fact that the TMC enjoys overwhelming supremacy on the ground across the Muslim-dominated district, where the Opposition parties have barely any standing.

Of Murshidabad’s 22 MLAs, 20 are from the TMC. Both the district’s Lok Sabha MPs Reman and Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan  are also from the TMC.

In the 2021 state Assembly polls, the TMC garnered 58.87% votes, while the BJP got 26.19% votes and the Congress 8.37%.

The Assembly constituencies such as Samserganj, Jangipur, Suti and Farakka, which were affected by the April 11 violence, are all represented by the TMC legislators.

Referring to the April 8 incident, when the district witnessed the first instance of violence over the Waqf issue at Umarpur – where a few jeeps were torched and police used lathicharge and teargas shells against the protesters – Manirul Islam said, “After this, we cancelled all our programmes.

The April 11 rally which sparked the violence had no flags and banners. It is true that our party did not have information (about the rally). But in my opinion the police also didn’t take the rally seriously.”

“Now we have been directed to bring peace at any cost. We have reached out to the people, holding meetings. Some of the youths have been brain-washed, they do not know properly what is Waqf.

We are telling them that even Hindu MPs have voted against the Waqf Bill in Parliament. We are telling them that our MPs have approached the Supreme Court against the law,” Manirul added.

Khalilur Rehman said, “I was verbally abused and stones pelted at my office by a mob. The incident was a conspiracy. But now our task is to connect with people. I have been holding meetings with people as well as party leaders.”

While Islam is holding meetings in Farakka, Samserganj MLA Amirul Islam is reaching out to people in his belt to ensure the restoration of peace.

Amirul also visited the house of Chandan Das and his father Harogobindo Das in Jafrabad area, promising to stand by their bereaved family. The father-son duo were hacked to death by a mob last Friday.

“I am visiting the areas. It is a task to restore people’s confidence in us. We are forming peace committees,” said Amirul.

The third fatality of April 11 violence was Ejaz Ahmed, who was killed allegedly in police firing.

A section of the TMC leaders have criticised some of their colleagues for “failing” to prevent violence or anticipate it. “These MP and MLAs have lost touch with the people.

That’s why they could not anticipate what was going to happen. Our party’s public representatives have become arrogant. They are cut off from the ground. It is their failure and they should be held accountable,” said Humayun Kabir, the TMC legislator from Bharatpur.

“There was already public anger against the MLAs and MP. That is why their office and house were targeted by the mob. People have the feeling that that never stood by the people.

They only win by showing Didi (CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee)’s face. In my constituency there has been no trouble. We prevented rumour-mongering,” Kabir added.

Source: indianexpress