How Does Intreccio work? Muslim Criminalization and Land Mafia In West Bengal, India

Abstract

This paper advances our understanding of the land mafia in India’s neoliberal land regimes. Analyzing the social composition of land mafia groups in the state of West Bengal, known as syndicates active in a newtownship in peri-urban Kolkata, I show how longer histories of religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims and class inequalities are inscribed into the land mafia structure. I argue that the concept of intreccio (interweaving), through which mafias have been described by current anthropological literature,works through unequal relations of coercive dependence where the State actively enables land mafias in order to raise revenues. Through close examination of the unequal distribution of profits and the uneven relations between low-level syndicate workers, village leaders, state bureaucrats, politicians and real estate owners, this paper uncovers the inequalities and different roles within the intreccio in West Bengal. I show that intreccio relies to function on the criminalization and exploitation of lower-class Muslim dispossessed farmers. As existing inequalities are reproduced in this intreccio, new zones of legality and illegality are created based on religion, class privilege and legitimation.