Saffron camp braces for ‘shastra puja’ in Bengal
We’ll see how the government can bar Hindus from taking outprocessions on Bijoya Dasami. Display of swords is not illegal and the government should not come in the way if licenced arms are worshipped.
sions with lathis and swords are taken out in some areas such as Asansol, Kharagpur, Durgapur and Burnpur that are dominated by Hindi-speaking Hindus. “We do not have any specific information, but we will keep an eye on such celebrations,” said ADG law and order, Anuj Sharma.
In 2016 ,a series of low-intensity communal clashes took place in Bengal centering Bijoya Dasami and Muharram when Hindus and Muslims took out processions. Clashes took place at Hazinagar and Halishahar in North 24 Parganas district, Chandernagore in Hooghly district, Kharagpur in West Midnapore district and Chanchol in Malda district. At Kharagpur and Hazinagar, the magnitude of the riots was much greater than what was recently seen in Basirhat and Baduria.
The saffron camp plan is likely to trigger a fresh controversy in the state. In April, following display of swords in Ram Navami processions, chief minister Mamata Banerjee threatened stringent actions against ‘illegal display of weapons’. She argued that display of weapons has never been a Bengali tradition.
The saffron’s camp’s plan is also unlikely to down well with Bengal’s intelligentsia that disapproved of Ram Navami processions interpreting them as a ‘cultural import from the Hindi heartland’.
According to purana expert Nrishimha Prasad Bhaduri, shastra puja has never been part of Bengali culture for the auspicious day of Bijoya Dasami.
“Let the government first stop Hindus from taking out rallies with weapons. We’ll then see if the government also bans Muslims from taking out Muharram rallies with swords. If we are stopped, we will move the courts and also place our appeal before the Hindus, who constitute more than 70% of Bengal’s population,” said an RSS organiser who refused to speak on record on this matter.