Bengal's cycle of violence

Changing the nature of the political game won't be easy

Competition among states in India is usually fierce but there is one metric on which Left-ruled Kerala will be happy to cede its leadership to West Bengal and that is in the incidence of political violence. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data released in 2019, West Bengal now tops the country in political murder; of the 18 recorded around the country in 2018, 12 were from Bengal. The numbers reflect only a fraction of the general law and order problems caused by frequent clashes between goons of rival political parties, especially in rural and moffusil areas, where the