Mob goes on rampage over offensive FB post in Bengal
Dozens of shops set on fire, CM Mamata blames opposition BJP
KOLKATA: Dozens of shops and houses and six police vehicles were torched by a mob in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district over the past two days after a class 11 student posted a “blasphemous” message on Facebook.
The Hindu student was arrested on Sunday night and prohibitory orders clamped but vandalism continued throughout Monday and Tuesday as the administration did not inform people of the arrest, claimed Quazi Abdur Rahim, MLA of Baduria, where the incident happened.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee blamed BJP for inciting the violence and also alleged that governor Keshari Nath Tripathi had threatened her.
On the communal violence, Banerjee warned leaders of both communities. “I won’t spare anybody fuelling communal clashes,” she said. “BJP may provoke but why will you walk into the trap? Those who have destroyed government property will have to pay for it,” she said.
Angry Muslim mobs set fire to shops and houses belonging to Hindus in Baduria, Swarupnagar and Taki blocks of the district bordering Bangladesh. The car of the additional police superintendent of the district was also attacked on Tuesday. The Centre rushed 300 paramilitary personnel to the spot, which is about 50km from Kolkata.
State food minister Jyotipriyo Mullick said he was at the spot tackling the situation whereas district police superintendent, Bhaskar Mukherjee, was not available for comment.
Rahim accused the administration of not making any “efforts to spread the news of the arrest” and said, “Some fundamentalist forces are behind this vandalism. The moment we manage to quell agitation at one place, it starts somewhere else.”
He also said that the central paramilitary forces were deployed late due to which the situation went out of control.
On Monday morning, All India Sunnat Al Jamayat, a non-political Islamic social welfare trust in the area, appealed to Muslims through social networking sites to refrain from erecting road blockades as it was the day of ultaRathyatra. At many places, the procession, which concludes the nine-day Jagannath yatra, could not take place.
In nearby Basirhat South, Trinamool MLA Dipendu Biswas said they were “maintaining close contact with the people to avoid any untoward incident”.
“We took precautionary measures and managed to avoid clashes and violence in my constituency,” said Rafiqul Islam, MLA of Basirhat North. “Some people blocked roads in my constituency on Monday and Tuesday. But after much persuasion we managed to lift it,” he said.
The Baduria clashes are the latest communal incidents in the state. Since October 2016, at least 10 districts have seen similar communal incidents .