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ShareNEW DELHI: Guess who is responsible for the pathetic condition of Muslims in West Bengal? Lord Cornwallis!
Embarrassed by the Sachar Committee report, which highlighted the dismal state of the minority community in the state, the CPI (M), in its bid to shift the blame, held the British officer Lord Cornwallis responsible for their poor socio-economic conditions.
The party said: "Impoverishment of Muslim masses in Bengal startedduring the British colonial rule, mainly on account of the Permanent Settlement of Lord Cornwallis." The party also blamed the partition for the pathetic socio-economic condition of Muslims in West Bengal saying that "most well-to-do Muslims migrated to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)."
West Bengal has a Muslim population of 25.2 per cent and the Sachar Committee, compared it unfavourably with many other states in the country.
The CPI(M), which has governed the state uninterruptedly for nearly three decades, however, says holding it responsible for the plight of the Muslims is "not only unfair, but also reflects a lack of understanding of the historical evolution of West Bengal and its Muslim community."
"Since mostly the Hindu landlords could afford to pay the high taxes levied by the colonial administration, the 'Jamidars' were predominantly Hindus, while the Muslims lost much of the land possessed by them," said the People's Democracy, CPI(M)'s party mouthpiece.
In fact, the Muslims formed the majority of agricultural labourers. "The Muslim middle class, by and large, vanished in this process of massive social realignment. Except for a few madrassas, the Muslims remained outside the purview of the education system. This situation continued till the end of the colonial rule," the edition said, without giving any counter argument to why its successive governments failed to uplift the Muslims.
Immediately after independence, West Bengal had to suffer the tragedy of partition. Whatever small section of educated middle-class Muslims had developed in the colonial period migrated to East Pakistan, it said.
"A steady stream of migration continued till the mid-1960s. The Muslims who stayed back in West Bengal were overwhelmingly agricultural workers in the rural areas. In the backdrop of communal riots and partition, security of life and livelihoods remained to be their primary concern," the article said.
Next it blamed the Congress. "The Congress which ruled the state since independence did virtually nothing for the upliftment of the Muslim minority. It was not until the formation of independent Bangladesh in 1971 and the advent of the Left Front government in 1977 that things started moving," the article said.
The party, however, quoted figures to stress that Muslims have been beneficiaries of the land reforms initiated by the Left Front. Redistribution of ceiling surplus land has not only reduced asset inequalities in the rural areas, it has also reduced the gap between Hindus and Muslims, in land ownership. The gap between the average landholdings of Hindus and Muslims is among the lowest in West Bengal among all Indian states, it said.
