Waqf Act Fallout Sparks ‘Pre-Deliberate’, ‘Hearsay-Pushed’ Riots In Murshidabad: Bengal’s Unstable Border Bleeds – News18
Final Up to date:
The violence, which began on Tuesday, virtually every week after the passing of the Waqf Modification Act in each Homes of Parliament, took an unsightly activate 11 April following Friday Namaz in areas resembling Jangipur and Suti
Birbhum: Safety personnel deployed exterior District Justice of the Peace workplace amid protest by members of the Muslim group towards the Waqf (Modification) Invoice 2025, in Birbhum district of West Bengal, Friday, April 11, 2025. (PTI Photograph)
In what the legislation enforcement authorities of West Bengal describe as a ‘pre-planned’ and ‘coordinated’ plot, sections of the Muslim inhabitants within the state’s border districts — Murshidabad, Malda, and elements of South 24 Parganas — unleashed a wave of unabated violence that rocked the state and reignited outdated political tensions. Three deaths have been reported up to now. One succumbed to bullet accidents sustained final night time, whereas a father and son from Shamsherganj had been reportedly hacked to demise.
Addressing the media on Saturday, West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar issued a stern warning towards these inciting violence and spreading misinformation. In an emotional enchantment, Kumar urged the general public to chorus from circulating rumours, stressing that lives and property had been at stake.
“The scenario was introduced below management final night, and highways had been reopened. We now have our forces in place, and we’re dedicated to utilizing minimal power. Nevertheless, contemporary hassle started when an unruly mob assembled and attacked the police. They virtually overpowered us,” he mentioned.
Regardless of deploying all commonplace riot management measures — together with using tear fuel and baton prices — the scenario escalated, prompting the police to open hearth to guard individuals.
“4 rounds had been fired as a final resort. Two people sustained accidents and are at the moment hospitalised however out of hazard,” Kumar confirmed. He additional added that reinforcements have been despatched and a workforce of senior law enforcement officials, together with officers of ADG and IG rank, are tenting within the space.
In the meantime, on Saturday morning, reviews of one other incident of firing unfold. Jawed Shamim, ADG (Legislation and Order), mentioned that the incident remains to be being verified however confirmed that the firing was not carried out by the police. BSF jawans deployed on the border had been additionally known as in by the federal government for space domination. The firing could have been carried out by them to disperse the mob. One particular person has reportedly sustained an damage and can also be within the hospital however out of hazard.
These districts, which share a delicate and largely porous border with Bangladesh, witnessed a collection of incidents of vandalism adopted by unrest unfolding with placing precision, with Murshidabad’s Jangipur rising because the epicentre of the chaos.
The violence, which began on Tuesday, virtually every week after the passing of the Waqf Modification Act in each Homes of Parliament, took an unsightly activate 11 April following Friday Namaz in areas resembling Jangipur and Suti. The strain rapidly unfold to close by areas like Samserganj and elements of Malda.
MURSHIDABAD: BENGAL’S COMMUNAL TINDERBOX
Considerably, all these areas — Jangipur, Raghunathganj, Dhuliyan, Samserganj, and Farakka — in Murshidabad district, which witnessed a collection of unprecedented violent incidents, share a border with Bangladesh on one aspect and partly with Jharkhand on the opposite. Components of those areas are additionally near the borders of Birbhum and Malda districts. The topography is essential to understanding the complicated and unstable nature of the mob violence sample right here.
These areas typically witness an inflow of Bangladeshi teams crossing the border and settling illegally, in addition to mercenaries and outsiders from different states, together with Jharkhand, who enter Bengal, wreak havoc, after which depart.
The complicated topography has led to a unstable and ever-changing demography on this area. Murshidabad and Malda districts have historically been Muslim-majority areas owing to the historical past of Nawabs ruling this area in the course of the pre-colonial period for many years. Nevertheless, the porous border and alleged political patronage have paved the way in which for nearly ‘unrestricted’ unlawful migration of Bangladeshis into the area. The appeasement insurance policies of political events have additional emboldened them.
The Jangipur Parliamentary constituency, from the place former President Pranab Mukherjee used to contest and win elections, has been held by the Trinamool Congress because the 2019 elections. Congress misplaced the seat to Trinamool and has didn’t regain it in all elections held since 2019. The constituency, which has round 80 per cent rural inhabitants and roughly 65 to 68 per cent Muslims (in line with the 2011 Census), has been on edge on account of numerous communal incidents and violent protests.
Within the 2024 normal election, Trinamool’s Khalilur Rahman was re-elected from the Jangipur Parliamentary constituency, whereas Trinamool additionally received all seven meeting constituencies — Suti, Jangipur, Raghunathganj, Lalgola, Khargram, Nabagram, and Sagardighi — within the 2021 meeting elections. The Jangipur Lok Sabha seat contains all these seven meeting segments. Final yr, nonetheless, Jangipur noticed an exception because the BJP took the lead in its Jangipur meeting section in the course of the Lok Sabha elections, which grew to become a bone of competition within the space for each events — the BJP and Trinamool — resulting in additional communal polarisation. Hindu voters have all the time been a minority within the Jangipur Parliamentary constituency.
Murshidabad, which was once Bengal’s centre for commerce and commerce in the course of the Mughal period and even later below British rule, with Jangipur (then often known as Jungypore) being the hub of the district’s silk commerce and business residencies, has now been lowered to a spot notorious for unlawful migration and communal flare-ups.
RESEMBLANCE WITH CAA-NRC VIOLENCE
The violence that surprised the state administration and the general public bore an uncanny resemblance to the turbulence witnessed throughout the state within the wake of the controversial NRC-CAA rollout, each in scale and symbolism. Curiously, no different state, even these with Muslim-majority areas, witnessed such widespread violence following the passage of the Waqf Modification Act. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a press release instantly after the Act was handed in Parliament, expressing her disagreement with it. Every week later, Siddikullah Choudhury, a minister in her cupboard, delivered a speech — described by many as a ‘provocation’ — throughout a protest rally in Kolkata, saying Muslims wouldn’t settle for such an Act towards their faith. The protest rally befell early this week.
What started as sporadic outbursts rapidly escalated into full-blown rioting in Murshidabad from Tuesday onwards and took an unsightly flip.
Scores of automobiles, together with police jeeps and administrative transport, had been torched or closely broken. Essential infrastructure was not spared both — site visitors outposts had been lowered to rubble, and key authorities amenities, such because the workplace of the Block Improvement Officer (BDO), had been focused in a deliberate effort to cripple civic administration. Even the residence of an area Member of the Legislative Meeting (MLA) got here below direct assault, elevating the stakes and hinting at a deeper, extra calculated political motive, in line with sources within the administration.
As in the course of the protest actions across the NRC-CAA implementation in the identical areas, together with Murshidabad and Howrah, public transport bore the brunt of the fury. Stones had been pelted at automobiles on the nationwide freeway, blocking the roads, and several other trains stationed at completely different junctions in Murshidabad had been attacked. Protesters not solely vandalised railway property but additionally blocked main rail strains, bringing regional connectivity to a halt. The Indian Railways, in a immediate response, diverted a number of trains to avert additional injury and forestall passengers from being caught within the crossfire.
ISF’s INVOLVEMENT
Whereas fingers had been initially pointed on the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), given its alleged monitor report of ‘Muslim appeasement’, the rising proof tells a extra complicated story.
A police intelligence report, accessed by News18, has thrown contemporary mild on the orchestrators of the violence. In line with the report, the Indian Secular Entrance (ISF) — a comparatively new political outfit shaped in 2019 out of rising disenchantment inside segments of the Muslim group — performed a pivotal position in each planning and executing the violent disturbances.
The ISF, shaped by influential cleric Abbas Siddiqui, related to the Furfura Sharif shrine, has carved out a novel political area for itself, typically positioning itself because the voice of marginalised Muslims and Dalits dissatisfied with the TMC’s perceived failure to safeguard their pursuits. What started as a socially rooted motion has steadily developed right into a potent political power, able to mobilising giant crowds and influencing public sentiment throughout Bengal’s border belt.
Sources inside the police declare that the ISF management exploited long-standing socio-political grievances and used them as a rallying cry to incite violence. The timing, nature, and unfold of the unrest — together with the collection of targets resembling authorities workplaces, transport infrastructure, and political residences — counsel a well-structured operation somewhat than a spontaneous rebellion, added the sources.
Police have arrested virtually 128 individuals from floor zero, and their identities at the moment are being ascertained for additional investigation. Nevertheless, the involvement of exterior components, together with unlawful Bangladeshis or mercenaries from different states, has not been dominated out.
The collection of incidents raises severe questions in regards to the fragile steadiness alongside Bengal’s border districts, the affect of fringe political outfits, and the challenges of managing communal sentiment in a politically charged atmosphere. With meeting elections looming and the political panorama turning into more and more fragmented, such violence — if unchecked — might set a harmful precedent.
As investigations unfold, and because the state tries to regain management over the affected areas, the bigger query stays whether or not these communal flare-ups will proceed to develop over the deeper and extra unstable fault strains rising in Bengal’s border politics.
