Hazinagar Riots

Till now team Anonymous was involved in exposing ethnic discriminations but by an act of coincidence, I
met a foot soldier of Hindu Sanhati who was upset with the ethnic discriminations and cultural
imposition. X, that’s what we can call him, is an outspoken chronic drunkard. 27 reported that the
rantings of this man could expose something far bigger than what we were thinking of. I thought of
asking someone to look into the matter but later took up this task myself. I had been collecting data
through friendly talks thus it wasn’t that difficult for me to make him speak up. For two-three days I
followed him and with the first opportunity I introduced myself as Abhishek Ghoshal from Bankura.
Since this person had his roots in Bankura, we became friends soon. Our friendship was based on our
love for Hinduism and hatred for Muslims. As we spent time together, he started speaking out. Initially,
he spoke about greatness of BJP/RSS leaders but later on he started criticizing RSS on the ground that it
is a liberal organisation and sometimes appeases the Muslims. I kept on acting as if I wasn’t aware of
RSS and regarded Tapan Ghosh as one of the modern saviors of Hinduism in Bengal. This was working
fine but I had to complete this task within the shortest period possible since some people within the
Sangh like Devesh, Sreeprasad etc. started suspecting my involvement in the team Anonymous. The task
was taking too long and I wasn’t able to see any progress. It was by now clear to me that, though a
chronic drunkard this man had full control over his mind while dealing with the matters related to the
right-wing groups. Many times I thought of this information to be a fake one and perhaps a trap for me
but at the same time I was aware that the prominent Sanghis were afraid of me. Though they never said
anything against me, they were bringing up changes within their working to nullify my claims. As I was
neither a social activist nor a political leader, their alterations in their working were my actual
achievements hence I saw them positively. Even though I knew well that the Sanghis were fearing my
ability of influencing the Bengalis and making a network in the Sangh, I was cautious about any kind of
planning against me. There was a deep concern that I had during this period was the safety of the
people who were working for the cause of equality while remaining active in the Sangh. I never trusted
the leaders who were betraying BJP for their personal gains since their loyalty was compromised and
could betray me too. I decided to quit this task as I wasn’t able to extract any information from X.
However, before leaving I made a last try. I argued that RSS is far better than the Hindu Sanhati and
Tapan Ghosh had no merit else he would have been in place of Dilip Ghosh. These statements enraged X
and he started abusing RSS and eventually the North-West Indians.

This was something I was looking for. I argued further that when any riot takes place in Bengal, it is the
volunteers of the Sangh who come up to help the Bengali Hindus. HS is confined to only social media
and protests. I emphasized that the HS was nothing but a group of Hindus with a ‘coward communist’
approach. I never thought that equating them with the communists could hurt them so badly. He stood
up, probably to hit me but refrained. He sat back and started telling me what I was looking for.

RSS is a bunch of moneyed Jains. It has nothing to do with Hinduism.

At this moment of time, I lost my temper since I had wasted more than a week on this useless man. I
found myself fooled by a bunch of people who believed this drunkard to be authentic. Even Kali da had
told me previously that HS supporters or members often abuse the Sangh to prove their loyalty to the
Hindu cause. I was aware that RSS/ other proxy groups are involved in attacking the minorities but
wasn’t in a position of buying his revelations. I controlled my anger asked him that on what basis could
he blame the Sangh? Just like any other drunkard man he over reacted as if I cracked some kind of joke,
he laughed at the peak of his voice and said while tapping his chest,

I’ll tell you… (abuses the Sangh) is filling the Boro Bazar.
That Hazinagar riot; who attacked the Hindu houses? The Meros and Biharis
attacked the Bengali and Bihari houses. They marked the houses and told the ‘volunteers’
(rioters) that these were Muslim houses. Some knew very well yet they attacked because
of the bloody beef eating communists, they think every Bengali is a coward beef eater.
(Laughs) The Mero was making video and showing it to his ‘mistress’.

I asked him the names of the people involved but he wasn’t aware, he replied. I could have believed his
statements but without proof, these were mere fantasies of a drunk man. Disappointed, I returned him
as I couldn’t find any proof to support his arguments.

In this period, I was somewhat living two lives, one- the life of a young playwright who was falling in love
with an apolitical girl who had nothing to do with politics and communalism and secondly a new activist
who was exposing some of the worst mysteries of the Sangh. Eventually becoming the hate-center of
the right-wing people. At night I would talk to S while rest of my time I would spend on coordinating
with the Sanghis who were providing me information. It certainly affected my efficiency of writing my
book but somehow I was managing to write three thousand words per day. Anonymous activism often
helps the society but the individual certainly requires money for his surviving. To be honest, by now I
was fed up with poking the RSS Bengal and wanted return to my apolitical life of an emerging
playwright.

For some days I switched my phone off and continued writing my book. The days passed like my older
days with the only difference that a beautiful girl had made her entry in my life. I never dared to tell her
what exactly I was doing around. My motive was honest but these kind of adventures are often not seen
in good light by most of the Bengali families. I was glad that I took the right decision and was chilling
around. Then one day, my fate made a U-turn. As I was watching old Guru Dutt films on Youtube, I saw a
video, “Hazinagar2” in the suggestion box. I clicked on it. It was indeed the one X was talking about. A
Marwari man was apparently shooting this riot video while a lady was talking to him in the background. I
wasn’t able to understand the conversation in Marwari language but through the tone, it was clear that
the woman wasn’t fearing of any attack on her house. There was a kind of surety of being safe in her
voice. I could understand that she was talking about having food or taking medicine and of calling
someone. As I run the video I saw a person coming to some rioters and saying something, after which he
calls someone else and everyone leaves together. Meanwhile, the person recording the video calls them
with a name “Bittu”. The video was uploaded by [Link] which is a right-wing news portal.
This video was linked to an article that claimed that this was a Hindu shop attacked by the Muslims. It
was now clear that either this shop belonged to a Muslim or surprisingly, the drunken man was right-
RSS did sponsor attacks on the Hindus! There was no reason for me to believe that the mob was a
Muslim mob. There wasn’t any fear in the voices of the man shooting the video and neither in that of
the woman accompanying him. They were perhaps giggling and enjoying the plundering. After watching
the video again and again, I was convinced that indeed Hindu mobs attacked the houses belonging to
the Bengalis and Biharis. It was also evident that, at least this Marwari family was indirectly involved in
the riot since they facilitated the attack, recoded it for the use of the right-wing propaganda sides which
intensified volunteered rioting against the “enemy” houses and shops, which happened to be the
Bengali and Bihari Hindu and Muslim properties. It was evident that the second day saw a rise in Hindu
right-wing mob consisting of ‘no Bengali’ but non-Bengalis called from other states. It cannot be possible
that these people came to the state with a short notice. There had been mobilization much prior to this
riot. I further investigated different videos that I gathered from the eye witnesses which clearly showed
that these people had no knowledge about the issue and working under a right-wing leader who
voluntarily marked the Bengali and Bihari properties as Muslim properties. In such a video, I found the
so-named “Bittu da” supervising stone pelting on the Muslims. The moment the provoked Muslims
started reacting, all these men left the place leaving the residents and Police to deal with the angered
mob. An unidentified volunteer from Bajrang Dal claimed the responsibility of burning down the
properties belonging to the Muslims. It is very much possible that the so called Muslim properties must
have been the Bengali and Bihari properties. It is shocking that under the saffron flag, the BJP and its
allies are milking ethnic discriminations of the people for political gains.

During this period, I studied the online and offline right-wing propaganda covering the state of Bengal.
The outcomes were extra-ordinarily shocking and painstaking. BJP IT cell has clearly, perhaps
shamelessly marked the Bengali surnames as the “enemies”. BJP sponsored propaganda sites not only
target the religious minorities but also the ethnic minorities on daily basis. Most of the young volunteers
of the right-wing groups have no idea of Bengal but rely on the propaganda. According to them, the
Bengali culture (predominantly Bengali Hindu culture) is a curse on the Hindus, as quoted by Devesh
Pandey of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Another such riot monger, Arman Singh believes that the
Bengalis are destroying the Hindu culture by consuming meat during Durga Puja, which is by the way, an
essential part of the festival. Another such volunteer believes that all Bengalis consume beef. I found a
number of such cases where these people target the Bengalis on regular basis and the best part being,
these people have no reason to stay in Bengal. Who sponsors their stay, is a million-dollar question.
Neither they have any work nor do they have any income source. It was found that these people run
social groups which are involved in so-called charity. Later, on a close look it was revealed that the
Vivekananda Seva Samity, a group to which Arman Singh is associated is involved in “charity” in a
comparatively further area than the slums nearby Ichapur, where it is based. These groups selectively
“help” the poor non-Bengali masses, or precisely brainwash the non-Bengali poor classes against the
Bengalis.

It is evident that this Arman Singh shares a very close relationship with Pintu Das who played a key role
in gathering a mob to attack the “Muslims” with a false propaganda in which he claimed that a certain
Muslim man ‘Salim Mistry’ died and his family members were preparing to attack the Hindus.
Unfortunately, this was happening on a public forum and the police or the authority played no heed to
such propaganda. From the language of the propaganda itself, it is clear that the news was a fake one,
intended to provoke the Hindus to attack the Muslims. The name ‘Salim Mistry’ is not a Muslim name,
further there was/ isn’t any man named ‘Salim Mistry’ in Hazinagar as claimed by Pintu. He did get a
good response from some non-Bengalis who actively offered their service in rioting. My investigations
lead to the training camps that are running in vicinity of Ichapur, Kolkata where Hindus are trained to
attack the Muslims and Bengalis. Surprisingly, some Bengalis are helping them in a greed of money or
power. One such video that we received had a conversation of two people who were planning to plant a
bomb and waiting for some Bangladeshis for support. In another such video, it can be concluded that
these camps were organized to attack the ‘enemies’ as these men quoted that they were preparing to
target anyone, who would celebrate or be a part of the Eid celebration.

Investigating Arman Singh’s activities, it was revealed that he is continuously provoking the poor
uneducated Non-Bengali Hindus and asking them to buy weapons. He gives them a ‘pricelist’ and
provokes the people with misguiding information. In his words,

Instead of owning a mobile phone worth 30,000- 50,000 INR get a ‘weapon’ worth
5,000- 7,000 INR for the Hindu cause…

He holds a good number of weapons and perhaps maintains his own arsenal. The weapons that we saw
were mostly swords and daggers but his ‘pricelist’ suggests a high possibility of something more
dangerous. On a personal Facebook post he claimed that he is ‘preparing for violence in India’. The
revelations were disturbing. The Ichapur Shakha contributes a major percentage of rioters in RSS
sponsored riots. Pintu Das holds the position of gathering mob while Arman Singh plays the role of
training and providing logistic support as evident from his activities. Pintu involves a large number of
Non-Bengalis who can neither read Bengali or understand the language. They eventually prove to be
soft targets for brainwashing them using false propaganda. Apart from Hazinagar riots, he is actively
involved in researching and identifying the areas where riots can be organized and hence make false
claims, following which he can gather a mob and attack. One such example being, the Barackpore Bazar,
where there is a high probability of an attack as he started gathering a mob on 7th April 2017. He made a
dubious video and claimed that the Muslims are hindering the Hindus in worshiping. The video shows a
man cooking for his restaurant with a picture of an Islamic shrine with people’s donation. When I
investigated the matter, found that indeed there was a small temple by its side and the temple
authorities and locals had no problem with the shop as it is a part of the Bazar. The shop has nothing to
do with the temple and doesn’t sell beef. Soon after he posted this dubious video along with provoking
claims he started receiving proposals of attacks along with volunteered service. Most of the proposals
came from non-Bengalis who majorly have no business except being a part of the BJP/RSS.

The Hazinagar riot revealed another side of BJP/RSS. Till now I was witnessing ethic discriminations but I
could never expect that these organisations could be involved in violence even against the ethnic
minority irrespective of their faith. Unlike the riots in other parts of India, the riots in Bengal are well
organized and sponsored as it requires a good logistic support since the rioters are brought up from
other states. As quoted by Kalidas Bhattacharya, Marwari society often provides logistic support. Before
every riot, there is a good mobilization in and near the area affected. At this moment of time I was
determined that I had to do something to save the Bengal. I was ready to go any further to save Bengal
and my people. Instead of making any report on the Hazinagar riot I decided to investigate further. The
more I investigated, the more shocking revelations were revealed. I found that often BJP workers use
police uniforms to create problems and frame the government and the state police department. One of
most notorious case being the case of Bikash Tiwary, BJP District Secretary of Bankura at the time of the
incident. From his pictures in police uniform and with police car along with commandos, it is clear that
he notoriously misuses the uniforms on regular basis. He was found to be provoking Hindus to attack the
mosques. It didn’t take me much time for me to understand why BJP IT cell asked the Hindus to gather
weapons against the police. It is quite clear that RSS/BJP is circulating such messages while organizes
attacks on the people by fake police personnel.
I asked the members of the team Anonymous Secularists and asked them to try to gather information
prior to the riots as I was able to find a pattern on incidences before the riots. I asked them to keep an
eye on mobilizations and inform me in any such case immediately. Asking the members to record the
movements of certain people helped me in finding out suspicious activities. While working on these
issues I found a strange truth. No matter how hard I try, no Marwari person, except for the video maker
can be blamed for his involvement in any kind of violence though there are testimonies of Kalidas
Bhattacharya against their involvement which can be verified by the records of the guest house during
the particular riot. At the end of the day, I found that only Biharis and Bengalis can be blamed for the
attacks on the Bengali and Bihari Hindus. Only a serious police inquiry can reveal any connection as all
the conversations of the sponsors take place in close circles. These people, against whom I gathered
proofs are mere pawns who are made to believe that they are attacking the Bengalis, both Hindus and
Muslims as a service to the Nation.

Hindu Sanhati affiliated hooligans did plunder the areas, as quoted by Tapan Ghosh in a personal
correspondence but it cannot be claimed that if the RSS/BJP plan of attacking the Hindus was known to
him. He might have or might not have known this fact but it is quite evident that his organisation gained
from this riot. According to Tapan Ghosh, BJP/RSS is now being ruled by some moneyed Jains who are
trying to destroy the Hindu culture. This is certainly a right-wing ranting but it clearly shows an upper
hand of Non-Bengalis in the BJP/RSS. In another private correspondence, Tapan Ghosh claimed that RSS
wants to destroy the ethnic cultures and impose the North-Western culture on everyone. Though
impractical, he is quite right in his words as this could be seen in the issue of the Bankura Medical
College where a number of Non-Bengali ABVP supporters bared the entry of the Bengali students from
the canteen as the Bengalis were seen as unclean. This is exactly what we read about the ill practice of
untouchabilty. The series of such discrimination witnessed a campus wide violence in which Non-
Bengalis were attacked. Once again, the people who suffered were found to be mostly Biharis who are
surprisingly non-vegetarians themselves.