Faith under fire: West Bengal sees repeated flashpoints around Hindu songs, pujas and festivals by Islamists 

The alleged abuse and near-assault of Bengali singer Lagnajita Chakraborty by a Muslim man during a live concert in East Midnapore has once again thrown the spotlight on growing tensions around public expressions of Hindu faith in West Bengal.

The popular artiste was prevented from performing on stage on Saturday, just after she sang Jago Ma (Awake, o mother), a devotional song invoking a Hindu goddess. The assailant demanded that she should sing a “secular” song.

Lagnajita Chakraborty had already sung a few songs at the event, but the Muslim accused, named in her complaint as Mehboob Mallik, jumped on to the stage and abused her only when she performed a song that he considered a Hindu song.

“I had just completed my 7th song, ‘Jago Ma’ from the movie ‘Devi Chowdhurani’ and was talking to the audience before going on to my next song. Suddenly, a man got up on stage and tried to physically assault me, publicly. In plain words, he wanted to BEAT ME UP, and also said, ‘Onek Jago Ma hoyechhe, ebar secular kichhu ga (Enough of Jago Ma, now sing something secular),’” wrote Lagnajita in her complaint.

The two pages of the handwritten complaint have been shared on Facebook by a user named Bhaswati Ghosh.

This comes amid a series of incidents this year that have sparked allegations of Islamic intimidation in this eastern Indian state; selective policing that neglects to punish the crimes of the minority community; and shrinking space for the religious practices of the majority community.

This West Bengal incident comes within 48 hours of the horrifying murder of a Hindu man named Dipu Das in neighbouring Bangladesh by rabid Islamists on the false charge of blasphemy. Dipu was beaten up brutally and then hanged from a tree and burned alive.

The proximity of West Bengal and Bangladesh — two lands that once consisted of undivided Bengal — and the porous border between them has given rise to a growing concern that hardline Muslims are emboldened to attack Hindus more and more frequently on both sides of the border.

Lagnajita Chakraborty’s complaint — that she was abused and nearly assaulted for singing a devotional song — is being seen by critics as more than an isolated episode. While the accused has been arrested, this attack on artistic freedom has come against the backdrop of controversies involving Saraswati Puja celebrations, religious processions, and violent anti-Hindu communal flare-ups in different parts of the state.

West Bengal, governed by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the past 14 years, has witnessed repeated flashpoints in 2025 where Hindu rituals, symbols and cultural events have found themselves at the centre of disputes, court interventions, and political sparring. 

Opposition leaders in West Bengal and a section of civil society voices allege a pattern of appeasement and delayed or non-existent law enforcement by the Mamata Banerjee government, charges that the ruling party has rejected in the past.

Lagnajita concert attack raises alarm 

Amid a rise in gruesome attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, the East Midnapore concert incident, now under police investigation following the arrest of the accused, has reignited the debate — not just over artistic freedom, but also over whether public displays of Hindu devotion are increasingly being challenged or curtailed in the name of “secularism” in the state.

In her written complaint to the police, Lagnajita Chakraborty said that the accused, Mehboob Mallik, used abusive language and attempted to physically attack her while she was performing at a programme held at a private school in Bhagwanpur. She claimed that Mallik was “one of the owners” of the school.

“The whole thing is recorded on the camera from the school’s end because they were recording my entire concert and playing it back on the LED screen behind me,” the singer wrote in her complaint.

Lagnajita further alleged that the officer-in-charge of Bhagwanpur Police Station initially refused to register her complaint. Following intervention by senior officials, a case was subsequently registered and the accused was arrested.

Senior police officials told NDTV that action would also be taken against the concerned police officers for alleged negligence in handling the complaint.

Opposition BJP alleges accused link with ruling TMC 

The Lagnajita incident has triggered a political row in the state, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleging that the accused has links to the ruling TMC.

“West Bengal is in the hands of jihadis. They are directing a singer on which song she should sing. This reflects an anti-Hindu mindset,” BJP leader Shankudeb Panda alleged.

The BJP also claimed that the police initially failed to act due to political pressure. The TMC has not responded to the allegations so far.

Reacting to the development, Bengali writer Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay posted on Facebook: “You won’t be able to sing ‘Jago Ma’ (Awaken, Mother). You won’t be able to perform Saraswati Puja. Christmas Markets are closed in Europe because they don’t like them. The Christmas tree must be called a Holiday tree. (A historian like) Romila Thapar will say that Hindus suffer from an inferiority complex. But it seems the whole world is suffering from an inferiority complex.” 

“If you can’t be this religiously fanatical and extremist, you’re bound to have an inferiority complex. No underground tunnels, no missiles, no AK47s, no suicide bomber soldiers, no 52 states – of course, there will be an inferiority complex. All you have is tolerance,” Sangeeta wrote with intense sarcasm.

“Go ahead, keep increasing your level of tolerance. Because you weren’t allowed to become secular by reading the doctrines and doing comparative studies. You have been made an ignorant secularist. You are the Gucci of the Bangkok sidewalks,” she posted, stating without mincing words that Indian secularism is as fake as a faux designer handbag in a flea market.  

Her remarks have triggered a stormy debate on social media, with supporters echoing concerns over shrinking space for public expressions of faith, while critics accused her of using inflammatory language.

Earlier this year, Saraswati Puja celebrations at Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College in Kolkata were conducted under police surveillance, following a directive of the Calcutta High Court. The court intervened after students petitioned that “outsiders” were attempting to prevent the organisation of the puja.

Some students alleged that Mohammad Shabbir Ali, whom they described as an outsider, had been harassing them since 2022 and threatening to disrupt the celebrations, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Murshidabad violence a turning point

In April 2025, communal tensions escalated sharply in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal during protests against the Centre’s Waqf (Amendment) Act. What followed was one of the worst bouts of violence seen in the region in recent years.

For many people, the Islamic violence unleashed on Hindus in Murshidabad in 2025 mirrored the relentless attacks on Hindus by Muslims in East Pakistan from 1947 up to the formation of Bangladesh in 1971.

Those attacks had caused the great migration of Hindu refugees into post-Partition India for decades. The Muslim mobs in Murshidabad caused a similar exodus — to other parts of West Bengal — although not a permanent one, and the number of refugees was much smaller.

According to police and local administrative accounts, the anti-Waqf protests began as demonstrations by sections of the Muslim community opposing the legislation and soon spiralled into targeted attacks in mixed-population areas.

Local reports and eyewitness accounts alleged that mobs comprising Islamist protesters and local Muslim youths went on the rampage in parts of Shamsherganj and Dhulian, vandalising homes, setting fire to properties and forcing Hindu residents to flee.

The violence reportedly led to the deaths of three people and the displacement of thousands of Hindu families, many of whom said they were attacked because of their religious identity.

Several families were seen fleeing violence-hit areas by boat and road to neighbouring Malda district, with widely circulated video footage showing women, children and elderly people crossing rivers from Dhulian Ferry Ghat in a desperate bid to reach safety. Relief camps had to be set up as fear gripped entire localities overnight.

Among the most brutal incidents during the Murshidabad violence was the killing of a Hindu father-son duo in the Jafrabad area of Shamsherganj. They were allegedly hacked to death by a Muslim mob, according to local media reports.

Residents claimed that pleas for timely police intervention went unanswered as violence spread, allegations that have intensified scrutiny of law enforcement response in communally sensitive districts of West Bengal.

The Murshidabad episode has since become a key reference point for critics who argue that communal violence involving targeted attacks on Hindus by Muslims has been repeatedly underplayed or explained away as “protests” in West Bengal — this is a charge that the state government has denied in the past.