Bengal Violence Represents Cumulative Failures of Hindus

Somewhere along the line, much of India's political leadership and citizenry developed an intellectually and psychologically neutered response towards excesses against Hindus.

- AVATANS KUMAR

The scale of Bengal violence in the wake of the presidential assent to the Waqf Amendment Bill (2025), now an Act, has shocked the sensibility of the Indian nation. In scenes eerily resembling the anti-CAA protests and riots of Delhi in 2020, predominantly Muslim protestors have been rampaging throughout the state, damaging public and private properties and setting vehicles on fire, etc. The violence, according to reports, has so far claimed three lives at the time of writing for these pages.

The rioting crowds have specifically targeted Hindus, burning their homes and destroying their livelihoods. In Murshidabad, the mob hacked to death a father and son of the family. There are reports of large-scale "migration" where people are forced out of their dwellings either out of fear for safety, or their houses were razed or burned.

CONFLICT, OUTRAGE INDUSTRY, AND THE NARRATIVE OF VICTIMHOOD The Hindu-Muslim conflicts have a long history in the Indian subcontinent. The Islamic "outrage industry" and victimhood narrative around the world are relatively newer phenomena. Somanjana Chatterjee, a researcher affiliated with the Center for Dharma Studies, GTU, Berkeley, California, and a board member of the Silicon Valley Interreligious Council, says that most modern social scientists view political considerations as the underlying motive for religious violence. However, Hindu Muslim violence predates electoral politics in India. While the genesis of the subcontinental Hindu-Muslim conflict lies in the idea of Islamic supremacy, both in its ideology and political power, the outrage is part of a carefully curated grievance and victimhood narrative.