u/010operator

This is not an attack on Biharis, Bihar, or my Bihari friends. Around 90% of my friend circle is from Bihar, and even many of these discussions happened with them. So please read fully before judging the intent.

My question is about communal politics and violence in states like Assam, West Bengal, and Odisha. All three have seen strong BJP influence and communal rhetoric from political leaders at different times. But I personally notice a difference: in Assam, despite strong communal politics, visible Hindu-Muslim street-level violence seems comparatively less than what we are seeing in Bengal and Odisha recently.

One thing I’ve personally observed in Bengal and Odisha is that a significant section of people aggressively supporting or spreading communal narratives are migrant labour populations from Bihar. I’m NOT saying all Biharis are like this, nor blaming an entire community. But can migration demographics and political mobilisation among certain groups also be contributing factors in communal tensions in these states?

At the same time, friends from Assam told me that migrant communities there don’t get involved in such politics as openly, which made me think more about the difference.

So my question is:
Do you think communal tensions in Bengal and Odisha are driven only by local populations and parties, or do migrant political/cultural influences also play a noticeable role? And if yes, how should society discuss this responsibly without stereotyping entire communities?