
LAYERED MARGINALITY OF BENGALI MUSLIM OF WEST BENGAL: AN INTROSPECTIVE STUDY
Na kisee kee aankh ka noor hoon Na kisee key dil ka quaraar hoon Jo kisee key kaam na aa sakey Main v eek musht-e-ghubaar hoon -Bahadur Shah Zafar (1775-1862) Introduction Of every four persons in West Bengal, roughly speak ing one is a Bengali Muslim. Despite their numerical density and participation in different socio-economic activities their identity is basically singular, based only on their religious affiliation. They are solely “Muslims”. All other identities (Bengali, professional, educational, economic, residential etc.) are never acknowledged and often suppressed by popular lazy media, and concocted, unscrupulous power-hungry religious and political leaders and even