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India – Howrah – West Bengal – Political Stability – Election-Related Violence – Hindus – Religious Violence

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India – Howrah – West Bengal – Political Stability – Election-Related Violence – Hindus – Religious Violence Migration Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA MRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: IND35014 Country: India Date: 11 June 2009 Keywords: India – Howrah – West Bengal – Political stability – Election-related violence – Hindus – Religious violence Questions 1. Please provide information about the political stability of the West Bengal region of India and whether there is any reported violence between Hindus and other religious groups. RESPONSE 1. Please provide information about the political stability of the West Bengal region of India and whether there is any reported violence between Hindus and other religious groups. The sources consulted provided some information on political and religious violence in the Howrah district, and related information regarding West Bengal more generally. Political stability The UK Home Office report released in May 2009 cites Jane’s Sentinel Risk Assessment dated 17 October 2007, which identifies “a growing communist (Naxalite) insurgency which currently affects 13 of India’s 28 states,” including West Bengal. The report explains that concern over the insurgency was heightened by a 2004 “merger between the two leading Naxalite groups, namely the Maoist Communist Centre and the People’s War, to form the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-M).” A surge of violence in 2005 resulted in 893 deaths throughout the country, with the report noting an “increasing sophistication of attacks, occasionally involving hundreds of rebels (UK Home Office 2009, Country of Origin Information Report – India, May, p. 48 – Attachment 1). Similarly, the US Department of State terrorism report for 2008 indicates that the Communist Party of India (Maoists), also commonly known as Naxalites, were active in a number of states, including West Bengal, who form what is referred to as the “Red Corridor.” It is argued that “[c]ompanies, Indian and foreign, operating in Maoist strongholds were sometimes targets for extortion (US Department of State 2009, Country Reports on Terrorism for 2008, April, p. 146 – Attachment 2). The Asian Centre for Human Rights 2009 report highlights political violence instigated by the Maoists/Naxalites in West Bengal. Some examples are as follows: On 2 November 2008, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Pawsan narrowly missed a Maoist-triggered landmine explosion in West Midnapore district. …In early January 2008, suspected Maoists shot dead two CPM leaders identified as Ramprasad Mondal and Narayan Majhi in Nadia and Purulia districts respectively. ACHR documented a number of killings of political activists in West Bengal by the Maoists in 2008. These included: - Karamchand Singh (45), a CPM leader and headmaster of a school, who was dragged off his chair, shot at and then his head was smashed with a stone in front of his students at Machkandna village in West Midnapore district on 22 February 2008; - Gandhi Mahato (32), CPM member, who was killed at Angarkuria in West Midnapore district on 12 March 2008; - three CPM activists identified as Mukul Tiwari, Jugal Murmu and Nabakumar Murmu, who were killed in West Midnapore district on 13 April 2008; - CPM leader Sridam Das (48) who was killed in the Rajnagar area in Birbhum district on 22 April 2008; - Serful Sheikh (35), a Revolutionary Socialist Party leader, who was killed at his house at Behrampore village in Murshidabad district on the night of 29 April 2008; and - CPM leader Ganapati Bhadra (45) who was shot dead at Bhomragarh village in Purulia district on 4 May 2008. …Those who participated in anti-Maoists protest were targeted. On 11 December 2008, Maoists shot dead a tribal leader, Sudhir Mandi at Jordanga village in West Midnapore district. The victim had played a leading role in an anti-Maoist protest in Belpahari on 9 December 2008. The armed Maoists overpowered him when he was returning home with his wife on a cycle from the weekly bazaar. The Maoists shot him and slit his throat. Mr Mandi died on the spot. …On 22 October 2008, three persons identified as Dhaniram Mandi (46, doctor), Bharati Majhi (22, nurse) and Pranay Mishir (46, driver) were killed when suspected Maoists blew up their car in a landmine blast at Belpahari in West Midnapore district (Asian Centre for Human Rights 2009, India Human Rights Report 2009, June, pp. 202-203 – Attachment 3). Freedom House’s 2008 report on India also indicates that “[t]he recent spread and influence of the Naxalites is cause for serious concern. There are an estimated 10,000 armed fighters supported by a further 40,000 cadre members, organized into a number of groups that since late 2004 have been loosely allied as the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The Economist has reported that they operate in 170 of India’s 602 districts, controlling some rural areas outright…Naxalite-related violence, including bombings and assassinations, killed more than 450 security personnel and civilians during 2007.” In particular, the report outlines a spate of violence in Nandigram, West Bengal in 2007, resulting from “a planned special economic zone…that would lead to the acquisition of farmland,” in which “more than 30 people were killed, hundreds were injured, and more than 10,000 people lost their homes amid clashes between supporters of the state’s ruling CPI-M party and farmers who were trying to block the land appropriations” (Freedom House 2008, ‘Freedom in the World 2008 – India’, July – Attachment 4). Election-related violence Various articles on the recent elections in India indicate that political violence was evident in Howrah and in West Bengal more generally. For example, an article from 11 May 2009 outlines political violence surrounding elections in West Bengal, including recent incidents of violence in Howrah: Except for two Maoist attacks, the first phase of polling witnessed no political violence. But the peace was short lived. After May 7, Nandigram, Asansol, Howrah, Murshidabad, Burdwan and Nadia have witnessed clashes between armed CPI-M and Trinamool supporters and there is no indication of an early ceasefire. The violence has so far claimed 11 men and a two-year-old. …Leaders on both sides of the fence have probably realised that vested interests, localised conflicts and suppressed aspirations may all combine to trigger another spate of violence in Bengal (Chatterjee, T. 2009, ‘Elections in West Bengal: A history of violence’, Hindustan Times, 11 May http://www.hindustantimes.com/election09/storypage.aspx?id=2d067ca0- fc19-4d92-bc41-e8386223e79c&category=Chunk-HT-UI-Elections-SectionPage-TopStories – Accessed 9 June 2009 – Attachment 5). An article dated 7 April 2009 describes tension in Howrah following the display of “at least 30 Maoist posters calling for an armed revolution and mass boycott of the coming Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal.” According to a senior district police officer, the posters “bore the name of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML)’s central organisation committee (COC)” (‘Maoist posters spark tension in West Bengal town’ 2009, The Gaea News, source: IANS, 7 April http://blog.taragana.com/n/maoist-posters-spark-tension-in- west-bengal-town-26271/ – Accessed 9 June 2009 – Attachment 6). Reports of violence surrounding the elections in West Bengal more generally include the following articles: An article dated 14 May 2009 identified the death toll for election-related violence in West Bengal as reaching 20 people, including the following incidents: A ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader died after being attacked allegedly by opposition Trinamool Congress activists when he came out of a booth after voting at Naraynagarh under Jainagar Lok Sabha constituency of South 24 Parganas. On Tuesday night, Khejar Ali, said to be a Trinamool Congress activist, was killed in Rajarhat on the outskirts of the city in a violent clash with CPI-M workers during which bombs were flung, said state Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia. Three people, including two poll officials, were killed when landmines, planted by suspected Maoist guerrillas to disrupt elections, went off in West Bengal’s Maoist-hit West Midnapore districts during the first phase of polls in the state April 30. Four people were killed in poll-related violence during the second phase of elections in the state May 7. Eleven people, including a toddler and a teenager, died in clashes during two days after the second phase (‘West Bengal poll violence toll reaches 20’ 2009, Thaindian News, source: IANS, 14 May http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/west- bengal-poll-violence-toll-reaches-20_100192131.html – Accessed 20 May 2009 – Attachment 7). A BBC article dated 7 May 2009 reports election-related violence in other parts of West Bengal in which two people have been killed and more than 15 have been injured; including “three major incidents of violence between supporters of the leftists and the main state opposition Trinamul Congress,” and the deaths of “[a] Trinamul Congress supporter…in Burdwan district and a Marxist supporter in Murshidabad district” (‘Delhi’s turn in Indian election’ 2009, BBC News, 7 May http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8035690.stm – Accessed 9 June 2009 – Attachment 8). Another article dated 7 May 2009 reports that “[i]n trouble-torn Nandigram, two people were seriously injured when their heads were hit with rifle butts as activists of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the opposition Trinamool Congress clashed in at least two places” (‘Two killed, two injured in poll violence in West Bengal’ 2009, The Gaea News, source: IANS, 7 May http://blog.taragana.com/n/two-killed-two-injured-in-poll-violence-in-west-bengal- 54772/ – Accessed 9 June 2009 – Attachment 9). In addition, a BBC report from 2008 describes the political violence experienced in the rural West Bengal elections of that year, reporting 30 deaths, and claiming that “all major political parties in West Bengal – either those of the Left coalition or those in the opposition – have freely resorted to violence since Maoist rebels, or Naxalites, began an insurgency in the early 1970s” (Bhaumik, S.
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