Murshidabad: Normalcy is yet to return to Beldanga in West Bengal’s Murshidabad as uneasiness looms after clashes between two religious communities over the weekend.
It all started with a light display on a puja pandal gate flashing objectionable messages. By around 8.30 pm Saturday, a video of the display, which was seen as offensive to a particular community, had spread like wildfire on social media platforms. Following this, some locals pelted stones and crude bombs, set police vehicles ablaze, and ransacked shops.
Beldanga resident Vikram Das said that on the occasion of Kartik Puja, devotees had been offering their prayers at the pandal, like every year, after which they would wait for ‘mahabhog’ to break their fast.
“There are over 100 puja organisations here. Like every year, devotees have been carrying out their rituals. We did not realise what happened. The electrical wires were snapped immediately after the message on the light display came to people’s notice… In half an hour after the videos went viral, the unrest had spread and extended to adjacent areas,” Vikram told ThePrint.
According to him, a Muslim individual arranged the lighting, while the decorators were Hindu, but official sources have not confirmed this.
“The Hindus are concentrated in Beldanga while Muslims have settled in the periphery. But such an incident has never occurred in the past. We have never witnessed such violence. The situation went out of control,” a local shopkeeper, Mainak Ghosh, explained. “The municipality chairman was in the area for the puja just a few hours before the violence broke out. There is still fear, thinking what will happen when the police leave.”
The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government rushed additional police personnel, the Rapid Action Force and senior IPS officers to Beldanga Saturday night to bring the situation under control. Despite their presence, the ground situation has remained volatile.
On Monday evening, the district magistrate’s vehicle was pelted with stones, smashing the glass at the back. However, the bureaucrat, who was unhurt, stepped out and tried to pacify the mob. The DM was visiting Beldanga in the evening when the incident occurred.
The district administration has extended prohibitory orders in the Murshidabad district till 23 November. Internet services remain suspended in the district and neighbouring border areas in the Nadia district to prevent any further provocation.
The West Bengal Governor has sought a report on Beldanga from the state government.
The Calcutta High Court Division Bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, while hearing a PIL on Beldanga, directed the state government as well as Centre to submit a ground report on the current situation in form of an affidavit by Friday.
A senior police official, speaking to ThePrint at the Beldanga police station, said that they had taken all necessary measures and the situation was under control. “Eight persons have been arrested, and we are taking strict action. Devices, used to display the message on the gate, were seized from the spot. We are keeping a close watch and ensuring there are no further flare-ups.”
However, the police remained tight-lipped about the sections under which it is investigating the case. The superintendent of police told ThePrint that a press statement is not mandatory in communal tension cases.
The West Bengal Police, on the other hand, has been using its social media platform to debunk fake videos circulating online, claiming to be from the Murshidabad district.
BJP demands NIA probe, TMC pays no heed
It is not the first time that the police have had the uphill task of controlling violence and hate spread via social media platforms. Only last month, various conspiracy theories around the rape and murder of an on-duty female doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital had kicked up a storm online.
In another instance from last month, unrest had unfolded at Shyampur in the adjoining Howrah district over a sit-and-draw competition during Durga Puja, when taking objection to the display of Prophet Muhammad’s picture, locals vandalised a police station, leading to a curfew and internet suspension. Following the vandalism, the police arrested 64 persons, including the puja organiser.
Speaking to ThePrint, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari demanded an investigation by the National Investigation Agency into the Beldanga clashes. “I have requested the director general of police to allow one public representative to visit the affected areas but have not received any response yet. Our party MLAs have also written to the chief secretary, pointing out instances of how the police have failed to preserve law and order in the state,” he said.
However, the Trinamool Congress refused to pay any attention to allegations levelled by opposition parties, claiming that the situation in Beldanga was under control. “The BJP does not need to lecture us about communal harmony. Bengal is peaceful, and the police will deal with the miscreants lawfully,” TMC leader Kunal Ghosh told ThePrint.
The state government has blocked BJP and Congress leaders from entering Beldanga, with the district police escorting them out.
People—including police officers—who sustained injuries in the clashes are receiving treatment at the medical college and hospital in Berhampore.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Mamata Banerjee has ruined Bengal beyond redemption. It is well on it’s way to be the next Kashmir valley for India.
The Muslims of Bengal, an overwhelming majority of them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh over the last five decades, do not identify themselves as Indians. Just like Kashmiri Muslims, their first identity is that they are Muslims and their second identity is that they are Bengalis.
At this rate, Bengal will have a Muslim chief minister soon enough and calls for secession are bound to grow.
The last Muslim mayor of Calcutta was Hussain Suhrawardy, an acolyte of Jinnah who assisted him in partitioning British India. The current mayor is Firhad Hakim (Bobby) – history seems to have come a full circle.
West Bengal is well on it’s way to becoming Bangladesh.
Hindus were never safe in Bangladesh. They were always treated as second class citizens and were the victims of frequent riots, lynchings, etc.
Now, Hindus are not safe in West Bengal too. Here also Islamists are ruling with tacit approval from the TMC. Under Mamata Banerjee’s watch, Hindus have been reduced to second class citizens in West Bengal too.
It’s just a matter of time before formal demands are placed for merger of West Bengal with Bangladesh by these hardcore Islamists.