Uneasy situation in Bengal after Ram Navami violence

The violence surrounding Ram Navami processions in Howrah, Rishra and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s alert that April 6 – when Hanuman Jayanti will be celebrated – could yet again offer trouble mongers an opportunity to disturb the peace – leaves room for an uneasy situation in West Bengal.

Mamata on Tuesday again pointed fingers at the BJP, associating the party with the idea of ‘danga’ (riots).

“The people of Bengal don’t take part in violence, and hence BJP is resorting to bringing people from outside the state to incite violence. It is a criminal act. Under the garb of Ram Navami procession, they are asking people to carry guns and swords to incite violence. This was CPM’s culture that BJP is now taking it forward,” she said.

Also read | BJP organising violence; rioters will not go scot-free, says Mamata

Mamata said the Trinamool would not back down and continue to struggle even if its supporters got injured. She alleged that the BJP leaders “hired” men to incite violence.

The Trinamool chief said the state government is providing livelihood support to those affected by violence.

Governor C V Ananda Bose, cutting short his Darjeeling visit, returned to the state capital and visited Rishra, where the violence took place. Sporadic incidents of stone-pelting occurred again after the Sunday incident. According to sources, the Union Ministry Home Ministry has asked the state for a report.

Meanwhile, BJP leadership continued with an intense stand against the violent incidents. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar on Tuesday met the governor seeking his intervention.

In another letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Majumdar stated, “Yesterday evening also there was heavy stone pelting in rail stations in Hooghly district for which train services were suspended and this could not be continued without the support of the ruling party of West Bengal…,” he said.

A letter signed by 26 eminent personalities was submitted to the governor by the BJP’s state intellectual cell. The signatories “apprehend that there is a hideous design to create communal tension throughout the state to divert the attention of the people from the current problems of corruption in every sphere of governance”.