There is a great Dance of Democracy underway currently in West Bengal. As horrifying as it is, there is a certain air of inevitability about the whole affair that is equally disturbing as the raging violence itself. Not even 24 hours have passed since Trinamool Congress won the assembly election in the state and already, multiple BJP workers have reportedly been murdered.
One of the most depressing news in recent times, even amidst a raging pandemic, is surely the murder of Avijit Sarkar in Ward no. 30 at Beleghata in Kolkata. Sarkar held TMC leaders Paresh Paul and Swapan Samandar responsible for the attack. Sarkar himself was an ordinary citizen, not that violence against anyone is justified. But the brutality with which he was murdered beggars faith in humanity.
His death is symbolic of the culture of political violence that has festered in the state for decades. An ordinary person cannot hope to participate in the festival of Democracy without his life being threatened. His murder is a slap on the face of everyone who pretends that TMC’s victory is some great victory of Democracy. Sarkar’s murder is further confirmation of the dangerous consequences of dehumanising political opponents.
“They killed my puppies,” he said in a video he uploaded on Facebook moments before his death. “I had brought her from Sealdah. She had given birth to some puppies. They slaughtered the puppies mercilessly.” There was an attack on his house and the NGO he ran. And all he could think of at that moment, when his own life was under threat, was that the mob has slaughtered his puppies.
As pet owners would be well aware, pets are family. Any injury to them and their guardians feel it themselves. Avijit Sarkar was no different. He broke down into tears while narrating how his puppies had been slaughtered. “Are they even human… I don’t mind if anyone supports any political party or wins the election. But they are destroying my house, and NGO office,” he concluded.
All of this is merely a consequence of the dehumanization of people associated with the BJP that we have witnessed in recent times. BJP workers, even voters, are branded fascists, ‘genocide enablers’ and bigots. And consequently, such crimes against humanity are justified.
These are actual discussions that transpire in liberal circles. “Should we help Sanghis fight Covid-19?”, “Will you help a Sanghi patient of Covid-19?”, “Is violence against fascists justified?” These are actual debates that happen in liberal circles of social media. We can safely speculate the kind of conversations that occur behind closed doors. And yet, such people claim to be morally superior to a kind hearted man as Sarkar.
Avijit Sarkar was an ordinary karyakarta of the party that opposed Mamata Banerjee. From his videos, it is evident that he is not the big bad monster the media, the opposition parties and the ‘intellectual’ elite have portrayed ‘Sanghis’ to be.
He was just an ordinary man working for a political party and taking care of his puppies. And the monsters murdered his puppies as well before proceeding to lynch him to death. How does the ‘intellectual’ elite tolerate such reckless hate?
Were the dogs ‘fascist’ too? Were the puppies ‘fascist’? One of the early signs of psychopathy is violence towards animals. And there is sufficient reason to believe that those who murdered him are absolute psychopaths.
The inevitable consequence of the narrative of hate that opposition parties and the media hype up is the mob lynching of innocent karyakartas such as Sarkar. The ‘Woke’ brigade, that constantly portrays BJP workers as monster, would conveniently ignore such attacks against BJP workers.
It is natural because in their hearts, they feel it is justified. Probably, they do not even consider them human. But Avijit Sarkar was just as human as anyone else, and he certainly had more kindness in his heart than most in the ‘Woke ‘ camp.
As unfortunate as it was, the incident was one of many that transpired in West Bengal immediately after the election. Even so, there are some who are still calling Mamata Banerjee’s victory a defeat of ruthlessness in politics.
There is an age old saying. You cannot awaken those who are not asleep. ‘Eminent intellectual’ Varun Grover is surely aware of the tyrannical regime that Mamata Banerjee has managed to create in West Bengal. He is surely aware of the state’s history of political violence.
And yet, he feels no embarrassment at all in calling TMC’s victory a defeat for hatred. He has not spoken at all about the murder of Avijit Sarkar, or the dozens of BJP workers who have been murdered in the state.
Who is the fascist here? A person who exercised his democratic right to work for a political party of his choice and just took care of his dogs or someone who feels it is justified to murder him for it? Who is the better person here? A kind person who took care of stray dogs or the ‘Woke’ celebrities who maintain a careful silence over his murder due to personal agenda?
The sad reality is that most opposition parties, those that form the ‘intellectual’ elite and the media genuinely believe that murder of BJP karyakartas is justified. They genuinely believe that even their pets deserve to be murdered. Nothing else explains their continued silence over the same.
Firecrackers should not be burst during Diwali because it hurts animals apparently but killing the pets of a BJP karyakarta before murdering him is perfectly fair game. Even in his dying moments, Sarkar was more devastated by the killing of his puppies. And here we have individuals such as Grover who pretend to be morally superior to him by the virtue of their words alone and not actions.
Such monstrosity has festered in West Bengal for decades because for far too long, violence against political opponents have been justified by the media, politicians and the ‘intellectual’ elite themselves. The ruling class of West Bengal must introspect, and introspect hard. One cannot build a prosperous state on top of a mountain of corpses.
