Badlands of Bengal | Contract killings on the rise suggest the changing face of politics in the State
1 year, 7 months ago

Badlands of Bengal | Contract killings on the rise suggest the changing face of politics in the State

The Hindu  

Published : May 03, 2023 14:37 IST - 7 MINS READ On April 1, Rajesh Jha, a prominent businessman with a shady past, was travelling towards Kolkata on the Durgapur Expressway. His murder is the latest in a series of what looks like supari killings in West Bengal and brings to the fore the changing face of political violence in the State. Gangster politics Pankaj K. Datta pointed out that unlike murders that take place for political gain, the supari killings also involve personal gain in the backdrop of regional or local politics. “Pankaj K. Datta pointed out that unlike murders that take place for political gain, the supari killings also involve personal gain.” Social scientists and political observers attribute the phenomenon to a shift in the nature of politics in West Bengal. Political analyst and professor of Political Science at Rabindra Bharati University, Biswanath Chakraborty, believes that the change from “ideology-driven politics” to “muscle-power politics” is one of the primary reasons behind the rise in supari killings in the State.

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History of this topic

West Bengal Political Violence: Contract Killings Rise as Out-of-State Gangs Enter Kolkata Politics
1 month ago

West Bengal Political Violence: Contract Killings Rise as Out-of-State Gangs Enter Kolkata Politics

The Hindu  

Published : Nov 23, 2024 13:05 IST - 6 MINS READ Audacious assassination attempts in broad daylight, supari killings, shootouts in public places—West Bengal politics at the ground level is fast resembling a gritty gangster flick that any mainstream director of potboilers would do well to study. This growing trend became evident again with a recent assassination attempt on heavyweight …

West Bengal’s Dangerous Nexus: Mob Justice, Strongmen and the TMC
5 months, 2 weeks ago

West Bengal’s Dangerous Nexus: Mob Justice, Strongmen and the TMC

News 18  

The recent incident of mob violence in Chopra, West Bengal, starkly highlights the troubling intersection of vigilante justice, local strongmen, and political manoeuvring. Local strongmen like Tajemul have long been fixtures in West Bengal’s political landscape, often used by parties to consolidate votes while wielding significant influence over local affairs. Appeasement Politics The political narrative in Bengal has been increasingly …

West Bengal government announces ₹2 lakh compensation to kin of lynching victims
5 months, 3 weeks ago

West Bengal government announces ₹2 lakh compensation to kin of lynching victims

The Hindu  

The West Bengal government on Tuesday announced compensation of ₹2 lakh to each of the bereaved families and job appointment as Home Guard for the victims’ next of kin following recent incidents of violence and lynching in the State. We are all sorry about such incidents,” former West Bengal Chief Secretary and Advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Alapan Bandyopadhyay …

Bengal election violence: Why the courts had to step in to uphold democracy
1 year, 5 months ago

Bengal election violence: Why the courts had to step in to uphold democracy

Times of India  

Well-known journalist and political commentator Swapan Dasgupta has worked for many leading Indian publications, including The Times of India. The settling of political differences through murder, violent intimidation and administrative recrimination is by now a well-established phenomenon in this border state, its origins dating back to the mid-1960s when the Left upstaged the Congress. The violence invariably reaches a crescendo …

Spate of violence rocks West Bengal ahead of panchayat elections
1 year, 7 months ago

Spate of violence rocks West Bengal ahead of panchayat elections

The Hindu  

Published : May 19, 2023 16:00 IST - 6 MINS READ On May 1, Bijoy Krishna Bhuiyan, the BJP’s booth president of Moyna in Purba Medinipur district, was returning home with his wife and son when he was abducted allegedly by a large group of Trinamool party workers. Although the reason behind Shaw’s death is yet to be ascertained, the …

The Bengal Conundrum: Understanding State’s Communal Violence Through the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings
2 years, 6 months ago

The Bengal Conundrum: Understanding State’s Communal Violence Through the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings

News 18  

It has been a year since unprecedented violence took place in West Bengal after the Assembly election results were announced. The resolution passed on March 23, 1940 said, “…it is the considered view of this session of the All-India Muslim League that no constitutional plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to Muslims unless it is designed on …

Intolerance Towards the 'Other': Political Violence in Bengal Points to a Larger Problem
2 years, 8 months ago

Intolerance Towards the 'Other': Political Violence in Bengal Points to a Larger Problem

News 18  

The latest bout of political violence in West Bengal is gruesome, but follows the cycle of violence in Bengal, starting from before 1947. Political violence in Birbhum points to a larger problem— a climate of intolerance towards the “other.” This stems from essentially two ideologies, the first—which shows up under the decline of the Hindu population in Bengal— is rooted …

Bengal mayhem: Nab the culprits
2 years, 9 months ago

Bengal mayhem: Nab the culprits

Hindustan Times  

Even by the gory standards set by the bloodied political history of West Bengal, the recent killing of eight people allegedly as revenge for the killing of a local political leader, is shocking. It is true that acts of violence have been embedded in Bengal’s political fabric since before Independence, and have been actively patronised by successive regimes. Despite public …

West Bengal: BJP worker found dead, party alleges murder by TMC
3 years, 4 months ago

West Bengal: BJP worker found dead, party alleges murder by TMC

Op India  

Political violence in West Bengal continues unabated as another death of a BJP worker has been allegedly murdered in the state. TMC miscreants brutally murdered Samresh Pal, a 36-year-old active BJP official from Madhav Nagar, Kakdwip assembly constituency. pic.twitter.com/MPWtntbYmW — BJP Bengal July 26, 2021 Accusing the ruling dispensation of Mamata Banerjee of political cleansing of opposition workers, the leader …

Time to Depoliticise Administrative Apparatus in West Bengal to Check Political Violence
3 years, 7 months ago

Time to Depoliticise Administrative Apparatus in West Bengal to Check Political Violence

News 18  

The recent spate of political violence in West Bengal after election results were declared has brought many crucial issues to the fore. Amongst these, one of the key issues is politicisation of the administrative apparatus as the Governor of West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankar expressed deep concern and anguish at the reactions of the state administration. Incidentally, the two states which …

Days of 'Khela' and 'Boma': What Bengal Needs is an End to Decades of Political Violence
3 years, 9 months ago

Days of 'Khela' and 'Boma': What Bengal Needs is an End to Decades of Political Violence

News 18  

In 1997, the government of West Bengal admitted on record in the state assembly that 28,000 political murders had been committed in the state since the Left Front came to power in 1977. How has India’s longest continuing nightmare of political violence been flying so smoothly under the ‘national’ radar? But the sections that talk about “death of democracy” or …

SC Dismisses Plea For Conduct of "Free & Fair" Elections In West Bengal As Well As Protection of Opposition Party Workers & Leaders
3 years, 11 months ago

SC Dismisses Plea For Conduct of "Free & Fair" Elections In West Bengal As Well As Protection of Opposition Party Workers & Leaders

Live Law  

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking for directions to the Centre, West Bengal government and Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections in the elections scheduled to be held this year in West Bengal. The plea, by Advocate Vineet Dhanda filed on behalf of Advocate Puneet Kaur Dhanda, sought for issuance of directions to the Election …

Deep Dive: Decoding Bengal's 'Blood Politics'
4 years, 1 month ago

Deep Dive: Decoding Bengal's 'Blood Politics'

India Today  

As the Bharatiya Janata Party shifts gear to mount a frontal attack on Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in Bengal, it has made political violence its primary weapon, coming from none other than the prime minister himself. Political analyst Biswanath Chakroborty explains, "Political killing or political violence is a permanent structure of the West Bengal politics. Since the Siddhartha Shankar Ray …

NCRB Data Shows Bengal Recorded Highest Political Murders in 2019, Revised Figures to Show Higher Deaths
4 years, 2 months ago

NCRB Data Shows Bengal Recorded Highest Political Murders in 2019, Revised Figures to Show Higher Deaths

News 18  

The killing of former BJP councillor Manish Shukla in Titagarh area of North 24-Parganas district is the latest in the series of political killings in West Bengal. The 2018 data for West Bengal, the NCRB says, has been repeated in its latest 2019 report because of “non-receipt of data from West Bengal in time for 2019”. In 2018, of the …

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