Subrata Nagchoudhury : Kolkata, Sun Sep 09 2012, 01:20 hrs
Already facing Mamata Banerjee government’s wrath over a book on its wooing of Muslims, Nazrul Islam is ready with another.
The controversial IPS officer’s 73rd publication, to hit the
market soon, indirectly questions among other things the secular
credentials of the Chief Minister, in terms of her Cabinet, government
and politics. The book, in English, is titled How Secular is Indian
Politics.
Following the release of his last publication, Musalmander Ki
Karaniya (What the Muslims Should Do), in Bengali, officials had dropped
in at the office of Mitra & Ghosh Publishers Private Ltd seeking to
buy all the copies of the first print. They had also allegedly urged
that the book be withheld, leading the publishers to approach the West
Bengal State Human Rights Commission.
In How Secular is Indian Politics, Islam discusses caste
(“varna”) and community (“jati”) factors and portrays that in the Mamata
cabinet, her distribution of portfolios as well as in posting of top
officers, the higher castes have been given preference.
While the Additional Director General of Police, Training,
refused to comment, except acknowledging that he was coming up with a
new book, the publisher, who refused to be identified, said it was
almost ready for print.
Islam had earlier earned the wrath of the previous Left Front
government for his anti-government writings. When Mamata became railway
minister under the UPA II government, she had invited him to join as
executive director, safety, Railway Board. In 2011, after she came to
power in West Bengal, she had the IPS officer brought back to the state.
However, relations between the two have since soured and Trinamool
leaders claim Islam took up the pen against Mamata when he was denied a
posting of his choice.
Out of 37 Trinamool Congress ministers in Mamata’s Cabinet, only
one is a Bengali Muslim, while eight of the Muslims are Urdu speaking,
Islam writes. This is not proportional to the demographic profile of
Bengal, he says, as the lower-caste Bengali Muslims constitute at least
28 per cent of the state’s Muslim population as per the 2011 census. The
Urdu-speaking Muslims, also known as Bihari Muslims, are much lesser.
According to Islam, this shows the Trinamool’s bias for those who have
more clout.
Moving on to Brahmins, he says that while they constitute only
about 2 per cent of the population, Mamata’s Cabinet has as many as 15
Brahmin ministers. Besides, almost 80 per cent of all departments in the
government are headed by Brahmins and high-caste Hindus.
Mamata, herself a Brahmin, holds at least 10 most important
departments, Islam notes. Brahmins and Kayasthas also occupy the post of
state Director General of Police, state home secretary and state chief
secretary.
Islam further talks about the only Bengali Muslim, Nure Alam
Chodhury, holding the relatively insignificant portfolio of animal
husbandry despite being a former Calcutta High Court judge and
distinguished lawyer. The Urdu-speaking Muslims, on the other hand, hold
portfolios like urban development, municipal affairs, education, fire
and disaster management etc.
Islam also cites posts such as Speaker of the Assembly (a
Brahmin), deputy speaker (a Kayastha), leader of the Trinamool Congress
Legislature Party (a Brahmin), chief whip of the Treasury Bench (a
Brahmin) and Kolkata Mayor (a Brahmin) to underline the upper-caste
“bias”.
In another reference to “non-secular politics”, the IPS officer
talks of Mamata’s dalliance with the BJP-led NDA. No one can tell for
sure that she will not go back to the BJP again, he writes.
In his “analysis” of how political parties exploit caste and
community equations, Islam also talks about other parts of the country,
including how the southern states have seen “reverse discrimination”,
with lower castes calling the shots.
Ghulam Muhammed
