‘Those setting fire can be identified by their clothes,’ PM Modi lays trap for left-liberals and they jump right into it

PM Modi has yet again put the left-liberals in a tight spot with his remarks at the Jharkhand rally on Sunday. Without mentioning any community or party, PM Modi said, “People who are setting fire (to property) can be seen on TV… They can be identified by the clothes they are wearing.” PM Modi also said, “The country is watching; people’s faith has been cemented in Modi after the Bill was cleared by Parliament. Their (Opposition) actions reflect that the decision to pass Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament is 1000 per cent correct.”

With this remark, PM Modi brought the violent and disturbing protests in West Bengal into the spotlight. The state of West Bengal has been witnessing widespread violence after multiple Muslim organisations gave a clarion call to stage protests, which turned nasty and violent. The anti-CAA protesters attacked a police station in Murshidabad, and also vandalised Murshidabad’s Beldanga station. The violent protesters and hooligans did not even spare an ambulance and starting pelting stones at it. There have also been disturbing visuals of the anti-CAA hooligans pelting stones at running trains, full of passengers in Howrah.

The violent, anti-social elements have been given a free run by the TMC dispensation and the violence doesn’t seem to whittle down. On Sunday, there were reports of Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel being attacked and at least four RPF vehicles were set ablaze in Sagardighi and Rejinagar. Some RPF jawans were also beaten up by a violent mob and had to be rushed to a hospital in Beldanga.

Violence has also taken grip of Malda, even as the hooligans vandalised the Bhaluka railway station on Sunday. They even resorted to arson and set the ticket counter on fire, even as hundreds of agitators blocked the tracks at the railway station. Within a few days of violence, these vandals and hooligans have run riot in West Bengal torching 5 trains, 3 railway stations, a dozen buses and a toll plaza. These protesters have not just been torching and vandalising public property, but they have also been targeting innocent citizens.

There have been reports and disturbing visuals of such communally enraged violent mobs pelting stones at running trains carrying passengers. Causing structural damage to tracks, setting them on fire and vandalising critical infrastructure are all methods to cause derailments and nasty accidents. This is exactly what the violent mobs in West Bengal have been trying to do. There have also been reports of attacking police stations and pelting stones at cops, after which the police had to resort to lathi-charge. What has happened in West Bengal is therefore no less than terrorism.

It cannot be a mere coincidence that bulk of the violence has been reported from areas like Murshidabad and Malda districts- both of which are situated near the Indo-Bangladesh border and are also known to be vulnerable to illegal infiltration of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. As such, there is not much to infer about who is involved in the ongoing violence and vandalism in the state of West Bengal. The left-liberals, however, chose to stay silent about it.

The left-liberals had understood that the violence in West Bengal actually upholds the sanctity of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. The fact that such violence took place right after the legislation was passed by the Parliament made it clear that it was very much needed. And this is why the left-liberals chose to stay silent. Those who used to argue that mob mentality is descending upon India, fell absolutely silent when mob violence actually took grip of West Bengal.

The left-liberals hoped that they would stay silent in a strategic manner and let this difficult situation pass. However, this is exactly when PM Modi went on to set a trap for them. With his “clothes” remark, PM Modi infuriated the liberal ecosystem to speak up about it. The usual suspects like Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a journalist at The Wire, another one, Saba Naqvi went on to state, “What clothes is our PM referring to…the PM of all Indians..” Yes, the PM of all Indians and Indians only. Now, they are trying to implicate PM Modi about this. But the fact remains that he only spoke the truth and even if he hadn’t the ongoing violence wouldn’t have abated. The liberals have come out looking intolerant and their insistence on playing down the violence in West Bengal has also got exposed. M K Venu, Founding Editor of The Wire has tweeted, “No other Prime Minister would have made such an incendiary, dog-whistle statement. Modi Ji just see the students gathered at police headquarters and their clothes don’t indicate anything.” Others like Sitaram Yechury and Shehla Rashid tried to act as total ignorants as to what is happening in West Bengal and tried to pin the blame on the police and PM Modi himself instead.

https://twitter.com/Shehla_Rashid/status/1206216865543929856

The fact remains that it is not PM Modi who incited the ongoing violence in West Bengal and other parts of India. It was the sheer rumour-mongering and fake news pushed by the left-liberals about the Citizenship Amendment Act that actually incited communal passions. When their abetment and incitement resulted in horrifying violence in West Bengal and other parts of the country, they simply went into hibernation. But they were in for a rude shock, even as PM Modi came out with the “clothes” remark. They instantly launched verbal attacks at PM Modi without realising that they have become a part of the debate around West Bengal violence- a debate they were simply running away from. Now, they find themselves in a tight spot. They don’t only have to defend the illegal infiltrators, but also the indefensible violence that has hogged limelight over the past few days. PM Modi had set a trap for them, and the liberals have fallen right into it.