Before I go to the stories, it is good to have a short introduction to Bengal, to get more context.
Bengal has had a huge influence on India. In undivided India, Bengali used to be the most prominent language, surpassing Hindi. Many educated Bengalis prefer learning English to Hindi. Its national anthem (Jana Gana Mana) & freedom slogan/unofficial national song (Bande Mataram-by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee popularized by Rabindranath Tagore) are Bengali. Bengal provided iconic freedom fighters like Subash Chandra Bose, Rash Behari Bose & Surjya Sen. Bengal also provided towering spiritual luminaries such as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda & Aurobindo Ghosh. Given Bengal's leadership in the freedom struggle, Curzon predictably partitioned Bengal in 1905 following the highly successful divide-and-rule policy. Huge protests followed until Bengal was reunited in 1911. However, the British would ultimately carve out East Pakistan from Bengal when leaving in 1947. Where language had once played a unifying role, religion would prove a more powerful divisive force.
Interestingly, Tamizhs played an supporting role. India's slogan, Jai Hind, was coined by Champakaraman Pillai & other freedom fighters of Madras Presidency in 1907. When he met Subash Chandra Bose in Vienna in 1933, he inspired Bose to adopt it. (Source: Colonial historian Saroja Sundararajan who referred to Jai Hind a Taraka Mantra. Research: @TrueIndology). Tamizhs signed up in droves to Subash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army & rose to several positions of command. After his Guru Ramakrishna's passing, Vivekananda spent considerable time with the Tamizhs, and also swam & meditated in the iconic Vivekanada Rock near Kanyakumari, where he foresaw India's freedom. His famous journey to the west was sponsored by the Raja of Ramanathapuram (called Ramnad in the historical sources, now also called Rameshwaram). Aurobindo would setup his Ashram in Puducherry (Pondicherry).
Now, we move on to the stories.
He was living in Bengal. After partition, he was now in East Pakistan. He observed a troubling pattern. The Hindu girls started disappearing once they reached puberty. He had a daughter himself. He made a decision to leave. This turned out to be good decision. Hindus, especially young girls, simply continue to disappear in Pakistan & Bangladesh. In Pakistan, Hindus dropped from 14% to 1.5% in just 4 years from 1947-1951. In Kashmir, Hindus dropped from 5% to 0.1%. In Bangladesh, Hindus dropped from 22% in 1947 to 8.96% in 2011. In 1971, Pakistan conducted a Hindu genocide while the world silently watched. Forced conversions are rampant. The world has shown the same level of indifference to the disappearing Hindus, as it has done to the Yazidis under ISIS. Some told me that they are very careful whenever they visit their hometown, and are also scared to visit. They believe that they will be unable to visit in a couple of more decades, when they expect Bangladesh to become to next Pakistan.
He moved to Tripura & later to West Bengal. His daughter was now going to college.
Once in college, she would walk from the college to her bus stop. She had to pass an open slaughterhouse en-route. She did eat meat. However, she did not like the smell of the slaughterhouse. She would cover her nose with her Dupatta & walk.
One of the butchers, belonging to a different religion, had been observing her. One day, when she was walking, he took a bucket full of dirty water that was used to clean the meat, and splashed it on her. He simply pretended that it was an accident.
Bengali Hindus have an auspicious ritual of blowing the conch in the morning. Once the demographics change, if the conch blowing happens, people would throw stones & break windows. The women of the household would be heckled in the streets. This would effectively silence the ritual. The ones who do follow it ensure that all windows & doors are closed fully, and the conch is blown only for an instant. While loudspeakers blare call to prayers multiple times a day. While growing up, the Hindu kids are taught to be subservient. Even if their faith is attacked, they must never counter or criticize.
Durga Puja celebrations are attacked & muted. The government simply stops granting permissions. Temples are vandalized & Murtis broken on a regular basis. The mainstream media simply buries these stories through silence. Chakra news once sent reports of desecration to multiple mainstream media news outlets. None responded. They tried an experiment. They sent the same information again, but instead of stating that a temple was desecrated, they changed it to a mosque. Most of the media outlets responded requesting additional information. This experiment reveals systemic bias.
One non-Bengali Hindu who grew up in Kolkota said that while the communists were bad, the TMC has wreaked havoc with political violence. They will instantly attack whenever Hindus organize.
A Bangladeshi told me that in the government exams, typically Hindus score very well in the written exams. However, in the interviews, most Hindus would be eliminated, through systemic bias. This charge should be verifiable by requesting government records. This mirrors a similar charge that a Kashmiri Pandit also told me, about Kashmir. One solution to this issue could be the elimination of interviews, and rely only on computerized written tests.
Currently, hope for a pluralistic tolerant Bengal seems to be diminishing.
