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Kolkata, March 31 (). For the past few years, whenever there have been clashes over any religious function or procession in West Bengal, all that has followed over the next few days has been a series of political fracas and money-spending episodes.
Not surprisingly, Thursday’s clashes over Ram Navami processions in Howrah district, which continued till Friday afternoon, have evoked a similar response.
Not surprisingly, Thursday’s clashes over Ram Navami processions in Howrah district, which continued till Friday afternoon, have evoked a similar response. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while admitting that there was a lapse on the part of the state police to bring the situation under control before it turned serious, blamed the organizers of the procession, who according to her are backed by the BJP, for the violence.
According to Banerjee, the organizers changed the route of the procession at the last minute and deviated from the route permitted by the police, which ultimately led to the clashes. Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee stepped forward and said the clashes were deliberately planned and instigated by the BJP. The Lok Sabha MP also said that the main objective of the procession was to incite violence as many people armed with firearms and deadly weapons were seen participating in it.
State BJP president and Lok Sabha MP Sukanta Majumdar said he agreed with the Trinamool leadership that the clashes were pre-planned. But the conspiracy was hatched by the ruling party in connivance with a section of the police. In the recent bypoll to the Sagardighi assembly constituency, the Trinamool got a clear indication that their dedicated minority vote bank has begun to decline rapidly. Hence, the Howrah clashes were deliberately staged to win back the minority votes using the so-called fear formula about the BJP.
State Congress chief and veteran leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary criticized the state administration for changing the route. The Congress Lok Sabha MP said, what was the police doing when the first attempt was made to change the route? Why was there no intelligence about such possible attempts to create clashes? Chowdhary also claimed that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the well-planned clashes in Howrah over the religious procession.
Echoing Chowdhary’s views, senior CPI(M) leader and former MLA Kaninika Ghosh Bose cited a famous statement by former chief minister and CPI(M) stalwart late Jyoti Basu. Jyoti Bes once said that riots cannot happen unless the rulers want them to happen. The Chief Minister himself is admitting that there has been a lapse on the part of a section of the police. Therefore, in such a situation, questions can naturally arise on the credibility of the Chief Minister who also holds the Home Ministry.
Meanwhile, Sukanta Majumdar said that he has spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue. Majumdar said, the Home Minister is very worried. I have also sent a letter to them, requesting the central government to intervene in the matter. BJP’s Shubhendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, has already filed a PIL demanding a central agency probe into the matter.
Till the time of writing the news, the number of people arrested in this case has gone up to 46.
KC/ANM
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