For decades, West Bengal was an anomaly on identity politics. As the rest of India mobilised around caste, religion and language, West Beng...
For decades, West Bengal was an anomaly on identity politics. As the rest of India mobilised around caste, religion and language, West Bengal’s left-oriented politics meant that identity was rarely mentioned as an explicit political framework.
Over the past few years, though, this has crumbled.
The rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party as the principal opposition has resulted in Hindu nationalism becoming an explicit political pitch. To counter this, the incumbent Trinamool Congress has pushed hard on another identitarian button: Bengali nationalism.
Outsiders vs sons of the soil
As the state heads into assembly elections this summer, pitched battles have already been fought over the issue of Bengaliness. The Trinamool has now for months been calling the BJP a party of “bohiragotos” – outsiders.
“Bengal will be run by the people of Bengal, not by outsiders,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in July at her party’s massive martyr’s day commemoration. Since then, she and her party have repeated this message frequently.
“There is no place for outsiders in Bengal,” Banerjee said in November. “Those who come to the state only during elections and try to disturb the peace of the state are not at all welcome.”
While using the term “bohiragoto” itself represents an unprecedented escalation, the Trinamool has even gone further,...
