The Agonistic Struggle between Trinamool Congress and a Non-partisan Protest Alliance: West Bengal and Its Anti-CAA/NRC Movement

This article offers an ethnography of the citizenship protest movement in West Bengal from mid-2018 to mid-2020. In particular, it retraces the ways in which a comparatively marginal alliance of non-parliamentary left groups and Muslim organizations managed to impose its agenda on the state of West...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Riccardo Jaede
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud 2020-11-01
Series:South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6916
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850167025643552768
author Riccardo Jaede
author_facet Riccardo Jaede
author_sort Riccardo Jaede
collection DOAJ
description This article offers an ethnography of the citizenship protest movement in West Bengal from mid-2018 to mid-2020. In particular, it retraces the ways in which a comparatively marginal alliance of non-parliamentary left groups and Muslim organizations managed to impose its agenda on the state of West Bengal even though the movement was hijacked by the state government. It chronicles the year-long agitation before the passing of the CAA that altered the political landscape in the state. A multilayered analysis of the dynamics, composition, and symbolism of the Park Circus protest from January 2020, which were Kolkata’s response to Delhi’s sit-in at Shaheen Bagh, offers insights into the ways in which the state government under Trinamool Congress seized leadership over this movement. This in turn rendered the government subject to the movement’s agenda, which continued to be defined by the non-partisan alliance. The article concludes with the effects of the COVID lockdown on the movement and the possible transformation of dissident politics in its wake.
format Article
id doaj-art-78c2ffc3b8e044658134b61297b61f4f
institution OA Journals
issn 1960-6060
language English
publishDate 2020-11-01
publisher Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
record_format Article
series South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
spelling doaj-art-78c2ffc3b8e044658134b61297b61f4f2025-08-20T02:21:17ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602020-11-012410.4000/samaj.6916The Agonistic Struggle between Trinamool Congress and a Non-partisan Protest Alliance: West Bengal and Its Anti-CAA/NRC MovementRiccardo JaedeThis article offers an ethnography of the citizenship protest movement in West Bengal from mid-2018 to mid-2020. In particular, it retraces the ways in which a comparatively marginal alliance of non-parliamentary left groups and Muslim organizations managed to impose its agenda on the state of West Bengal even though the movement was hijacked by the state government. It chronicles the year-long agitation before the passing of the CAA that altered the political landscape in the state. A multilayered analysis of the dynamics, composition, and symbolism of the Park Circus protest from January 2020, which were Kolkata’s response to Delhi’s sit-in at Shaheen Bagh, offers insights into the ways in which the state government under Trinamool Congress seized leadership over this movement. This in turn rendered the government subject to the movement’s agenda, which continued to be defined by the non-partisan alliance. The article concludes with the effects of the COVID lockdown on the movement and the possible transformation of dissident politics in its wake.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6916West BengalCAA/NRC protestTrinamool CongressNon-Parliamentary LeftAgonistic StrugglePark Circus
spellingShingle Riccardo Jaede
The Agonistic Struggle between Trinamool Congress and a Non-partisan Protest Alliance: West Bengal and Its Anti-CAA/NRC Movement
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
West Bengal
CAA/NRC protest
Trinamool Congress
Non-Parliamentary Left
Agonistic Struggle
Park Circus
title The Agonistic Struggle between Trinamool Congress and a Non-partisan Protest Alliance: West Bengal and Its Anti-CAA/NRC Movement
title_full The Agonistic Struggle between Trinamool Congress and a Non-partisan Protest Alliance: West Bengal and Its Anti-CAA/NRC Movement
title_fullStr The Agonistic Struggle between Trinamool Congress and a Non-partisan Protest Alliance: West Bengal and Its Anti-CAA/NRC Movement
title_full_unstemmed The Agonistic Struggle between Trinamool Congress and a Non-partisan Protest Alliance: West Bengal and Its Anti-CAA/NRC Movement
title_short The Agonistic Struggle between Trinamool Congress and a Non-partisan Protest Alliance: West Bengal and Its Anti-CAA/NRC Movement
title_sort agonistic struggle between trinamool congress and a non partisan protest alliance west bengal and its anti caa nrc movement
topic West Bengal
CAA/NRC protest
Trinamool Congress
Non-Parliamentary Left
Agonistic Struggle
Park Circus
url https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6916
work_keys_str_mv AT riccardojaede theagonisticstrugglebetweentrinamoolcongressandanonpartisanprotestalliancewestbengalanditsanticaanrcmovement
AT riccardojaede agonisticstrugglebetweentrinamoolcongressandanonpartisanprotestalliancewestbengalanditsanticaanrcmovement