KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the BJP of triggering the communal violence over the Ram Navami rally in Hooghly, after Howrah, where prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC are in force, while Internet services have been suspended at Rishra with the arrest of 12 persons since Sunday night following the fresh clashes.
An angry Trinamul Congress supremo questioned the BJP over its move to take out religious processions without permission even after the occasion of Ram Navami and deliberately entering areas with a large Muslim population every time during the holy month of Ramzan. She further warned the state administration against the recurrence of violence during the forthcoming Hanuman Jayanti.
At an administrative event at Khejuri in Nandigram, which is the Assembly constituency of Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, the CM alleged: “BJP rule means riots. Ramzan, a month-long roza, is underway. Why would Ram Navami rally be held for five days? We have no objection to it on the day of the festival. But a rally with guns and bombs should not be held. Why would bulldozers be used? While all use it for construction purposes, these people use it for rallies!”
She claimed: “They are taking out rallies without permission and deliberately entering areas of the minority community despite plenty of alternative routes. They (attack) vans of fruit-sellers since fruits are eaten during Ramzan. They also danced with guns after the rally at Rishra on Sunday. I also caution the administration for another upcoming occasion on April 6. We respect Bajrangbali. Ensure that they cannot plan yet another unrest by rioting.”
In the evening, BJP president J.P. Nadda called up state party chief Sukanta Majumdar and enquired about the situation at Rishra. Earlier, Mr Majumdar was stopped by the police in the morning when he tried to enter Rishra through Konnagar in the district. His party workers jostled with the police trying to remove barricades on the road.
The Calcutta high court has, meanwhile, sought an action taken report from the state government by April 5 over the violence in Howrah last week. Hearing Mr Adhikari’s petition for an NIA probe into the clash, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya ordered the state police to submit CCTV footage and other video footage along with the report on the total number of arrests.
The high court also wanted to know from state advocate-general S.N. Mookherjee why permission for the rally on Ram Navami was given in view of similar unrest in the past in Howrah. A BJP parliamentary delegation is planning to meet President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan this week over the series of attacks on Ram Navami rallies in the districts and the grim law and order situation in the state.
