The attack by Islamists at Kaliachak in Malda district of West Bengal has received some coverage at least in the national media in the last few days. But, the account is part of a bigger picture, that of Islamisation of West Bengal. The state, which once was known for its rich and vibrant culture across the country, has recently become the graveyard of Hindus thanks to Muslim appeasement policy being followed by all political parties for decades.

From Left to Right, no party ignores the power of 30 per cent vote bank which is on the rise with the passing of every single day. Infiltration from Bangladesh and non-existence of family planning are the two important reasons which are resulting in the growth of the Muslim population in the state of West Bengal. As per the latest census data of 2011, three districts - Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur and Malda - of West Bengal have already become Muslim dominated. Besides these three districts, Muslims have significant presence in other districts like North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Hooghly, Howrah and Birbhum. Out of 294 Assembly seats of West Bengal, more than 100 seats are such where Muslim vote is the major factor to determine the outcome of poll.

Perhaps as a natural corollary of the Muslim dominance of the demography, Hindus are being repeatedly targeted by Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Muslim-dominated areas of India like Kerala, west Uttar Pradesh and Kashmir.

Now, let’s look at what happened at Kaliachak, a town close to the Bangladesh border. As per last census report, the total population of Kaliachak is 3,92,517, out of which Hindu population is only 41,456 while Muslim population is 3,50,475, which is 90 per cent of total population. However, interestingly enough, one of the very few places in the district where Hindus are in substantial numbers is Kaliachak-Baliadanga region, where they make up around 30 per cent of the population.

That the attack should have occurred in a town where the Hindus are still in substantial numbers is interesting and ominous. In the last week of December 2015, a leaflet was widely circulated in the area with an appeal to Muslims to assemble at Kaliachak Taxi Stand to protest against Kamlesh Tiwari’s alleged derogatory comment about the Prophet of Islam. The police and administration was aware about the leaflet, yet they neither took any action to stop the unlawful assembly nor initiated any action against the publisher of the leaflet.

On January 3, when 1.5 lakh Muslims assembled near Kaliachak taxi stand, provocative speeches were made by some Muslim leaders to instigate the mob. It is interesting to ponder where this Muslim mob of 1.5 lakhs emerged from. The total population of Muslims in one block of Kaliachak is 3.5 lakhs, including women and children, as previously mentioned. The total number of Muslims of in Kaliachak-Baliadanga town is around 10,000. It is clear that a very considerable number of Muslims were brought in from elsewhere, and that this was no flash mob. Muslims were urged to unite against “dushman” (enemy). Lakhs of people were on road with placards in their hand demanding death of Kamlesh Tiwari.

The Muslim mob, at first, blocked the national highway and ransacked vehicles parked there. A small number of police personnel, posted there, became absolutely helpless. The mob didn’t even spare the van of the Border Security Force (BSF) and set that on fire. Later, they turned towards the police station. Huge number of people entered into the station premises and damaged many police vehicles. Witnessing such a violent attack, all police personnel ran away from police station to seek refuge at district headquarter at Malda. The rioters took control of the police station and set that on fire. Important documents pertaining to important cases were gutted in no time.

After destroying the police station, the Muslim mob turned their attention towards properties belonging to Hindus. They selective attacked Hindu houses and shops, damaged the properties, looted their belongings, molested Hindu women. Absolute lawlessness loomed all over the area for several hours until huge police force along with RAF were called from district headquarters and deployed in the area.

Despite such a largescale attack on public properties and people in general, the state administration managed to arrest only nine accused by the next day and of them, six got bail immediately as the charges framed against them by police was not serious at all.

Just like previous occasions, this time too, all vernacular media had imposed self-censorship. Few national media units, however, investigated the reports put up on social media by a state-based Hindu organisation, Hindu Samhati, and covered the issue given the gravity of the situation. Local media has remained largely silent.

This is not the first time that the news on atrocities against Hindus in West Bengal has been suppressed. Be it attack on Hindus at Deganga in 2011 or at Kaliachak in 2016, no vernacular media has published anything about it. A Hindu organisation, Hindu Samhati, had put up on social media facts and visuals pertaining to the incident. The outrage that followed on social media forced the national media to investigate the reports, and cover the incontrovertibly verified parts. Given the coverage, the administration and intelligence of West Bengal government - that had completely failed to gauge the nature of the protest rally which turned violent - has now invented narratives that anti-Indians who are operating fake currency rackets and are engaged in poppy cultivation were responsible for the violence.

The incident was not "communal", according to several politicians, even though the attackers shouted slogans like "Islam Zindabad", "Nara-e-Takbeer", and "Hang Kamlesh Tiwari" repeatedly.

Our question is: How long these politicians are going to be captive of ballot boxes which make them blind to a critical law and order situation? Why did the intelligence fail to foresee the event and take cautionary measures to prevent such incident? From Azad Maidan attack to recent Kaliachak attack, all these attacks are ignored as stray incidents by the so-called "seculars". These kinds of communal incidents, where Hindus are targeted, have been increasing rapidly.

Now, the fire of Kaliachak has spread to neighbouring Purnia. Times Now reported that a JD(U) MP, president of Idara-e-Shariya, had called the rally, which he denied in a telephonic conversation reported by the channel. It is amazing that even though India has no blasphemy law, Kamlesh Tiwari was arrested and he is now in jail for a comment on Prophet Muhammad. He was arrested on the grounds of inciting enmity between communities. However, Kaliachak attackers are roaming freely as state has refused to admit that it was a communal incident. On the contrary, those who had spread the news of Kaliachak violence was called by the state CID, and they were asked to delete the photos, videos and write ups portraying the violent Islamic attack on government and private properties of Hindu owners.

Now that the spinning job has been done carefully, every political party is now blaming the poppy cultivation and fake currency rackets for the incident.

But the question persists: If this was true, then why should the organisers of the events not be summoned and questioned on how the poppy cultivators and fake currency racketeers used their rally to destroy documents at BDO office and police station.

The BJP's fact-finding team and CPM MPs were prevented from entering the area while some were also arrested when they wished to visit the place. Having failed to visit the area or talk to the people, they now have surrendered to the official version of the state government that there was no communal attack but it was a deed of anti-nationals.

Are they not portraying the peace-loving Muslims as anti-nationals who congregated on that day to protest? Poppy seed cultivation, arms dealing, fake currency rackets with slogans of "Islam Zindabad", "Hang Kamlesh" and "Nara-e-Takbeer" remind us of Taliban-ruled Afganistan. Now this is happening in India too. Are we going to experience the "Direct Action Day" once again in Bengal when peaceful Islamic organisations will have no control on the Muslims who are going to attend their rallies and turn violent to attack others?

In the meantime, Ghulam Ali came to Kolkata for a performance promised by none other than chief minister Mamata Bannerjee, after Shiv Sena had stopped his programme in Mumbai. But the timing is perfect as Mamata can be called a modern day Nero, who is enjoying music while West Bengal is burning.