For all the bombast of the Narendra Modi government on national security and internal law and order, the situation in West Bengal today stands as a glaring indictment of its ineffectiveness. For the past several days, districts like Murshidabad have seen unabated violence over protests against the Waqf Act 2025 — a law duly passed by both Houses of Parliament and assented to by the President of India. The reason? None other than Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has brazenly declared that her government will not implement it. If this is not anti-Constitutional defiance, then what is? In the same breath, one must ask: where is the central government when Hindus are fleeing their homes? Where is Union Home Minister Amit Shah when a part of India is effectively slipping out of the Union’s constitutional grasp? West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, unsurprisingly, continues to fan the flames through her signature style of communal appeasement and selective silence. But the greater failure lies squarely at the doorstep of the BJP-led Centre. A democratically enacted law is being opposed on the streets, violently, in a state that already walks the communal tightrope daily. And yet, the Modi government refuses to act decisively. Let’s be clear: the violence in Murshidabad and neighboring districts is not spontaneous. It is orchestrated, well-funded, and emboldened by a state administration that has long treated certain communities as vote banks immune to law enforcement. What else explains the TMC government’s studied inaction while mobs run amok? How else can one interpret reports of Hindus being forced to flee their homes in a district that is now over 65% Muslim? The demographic tilt in West Bengal is not accidental either. For years, there have been credible reports — ignored by both the TMC and the BJP — of unchecked infiltration from Bangladesh and of border districts being gradually transformed in terms of population composition and political allegiance. The silence from Delhi on this slow-motion demographic transformation is strategic, cowardly, and deeply irresponsible.
The Waqf Act 2025 was passed to rationalize and regulate waqf properties across India, including ensuring transparency and protecting public land from encroachment and misuse. Yet, in Bengal, the act is being demonised, misrepresented as anti-Muslim, and used as an excuse to incite violence. If the law is unjust or unconstitutional, the proper place to challenge it is the Supreme Court — not the streets. That brings us to the judiciary. Why has the Supreme Court not taken urgent suo motu cognisance of the Bengal unrest when more than a dozen petitions challenging the Waqf Act are pending before a bench headed by none other than the Chief Justice of India? Why must the country wait until April 16 for action while lives are being lost and communal tensions are spiralling out of control? Judicial delay in matters of civil unrest amounts to dereliction. Justice deferred, in this case, may as well be justice denied — not just for the petitioners but for the entire country. Amit Shah’s repeated assertions about zero tolerance for lawlessness ring hollow when a border state is on fire, and New Delhi behaves like a disinterested bystander. His rhetoric, much like the Prime Minister’s strategic silence, is a luxury India cannot afford anymore. West Bengal is too important — geopolitically, culturally, and constitutionally — to be left to Mamata Banerjee’s dangerous games. If the violence and lawlessness in Bengal are not checked now, we are looking not just at another communal riot but the potential Balkanisation of the state. The Centre has the constitutional powers — under Articles 355 and 356 — to intervene when a state fails to maintain law and order and uphold the Constitution. If this is not such a moment, then what is? Silence is complicity. Delay is defeat. Action is overdue.