‘Mamata reluctant to act on Dhulagarh rioters’
IN PASCHIM PARA, MOST HOUSES REMAINED ABANDONED AS RESIDENTS HAVE flED.
A delegation of BJP leaders, MP Satyapal Singh, MP Jagadambika Pal and MLA Dilip Ghosh was stopped on Saturday from entering riot hit Dhulagarh in Howrah district, barely 28 km from the West Bengal secretariat Nabanna, by the Mamata Banerjee-led administration. Dhulagarh has been on the boil since 13 December following the rioting started by participants in a religious procession. Hindus and Musims residing in Dhulagarh shared cordial relation until 13 December. Bapi, a resident of Banerjee Para, said that on the ill-fated evening a sudden clash broke out between the members of the two communities over an Eid-e-Milad procession which was taken out from Daonghate and was headed towards Shibtala. In no time multiple shops were torched by the participants in the procession. They also hurled crude bombs at the other community indiscriminately.
As the mayhem continued for hours, residents locked themselves up in their homes and shutters were pulled down. The presence of police was awaited.
The police force from the Sankrail police station and the headquarters reached there to tackle the situation but the situation was far from over. Even before the police could act, numerous houses belonging to the majority community were torched, shops looted, women were molested and pharmacy shops gutted in fire. To tackle the situation, reinforcements were called, water cannons were used to disperse the mob and Rapid Action Forces were pressed into service. Section 144 was imposed in the area.
Subhro, an engineer by profession, shared his horrific experience with The Sunday Guardian, “I work in the IT sector and travel to Kolkata every day. On 13 December, my mother called me and advised me not to return home because bombs were being hurled indiscriminately, which was audible over the phone. I could not return home for the next three days. All members of my family fled barring my parents.”
The Sunday Guardian team travelled to the worst affected areas of Dhulagarh. In Paschim Para, the majority of the houses remained abandoned as the residents had fled. Those still there were cautious in their approach. Live bombs could be spotted in and around the village. The bomb disposal squad was yet to reach the place of occurrence to defuse the live bombs.Mayhem was followed by sporadic incidents for the next three days. Heavy police deployment continues to dominate the area. IG South Bengal, Ajay Ranade while taking stock of the situation refused to comment.
The BJP accused the Mamata government of playing the communal card. After a week, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury went to Dhulagarh, followed by BJP MP Roopa Ganguly who went there the next day to meet the victims. But they were stopped by the police from venturing to the affected areas. National spokesperson of BJP, Siddharth Nath Singh said that Mamata Banerjee was trying to appease the minority community, which has led to a law and order breakdown in the state. Neither the local MLA Gulshan Mullick nor MP Sultan Ahmed from TMC was available for any reaction. However, TMC spokesperson Derek O’Brien tweeted, attacking the opposition parties: “Communal friend (from Panama!! ), your party again trying divisive stunts in Bengal. People here will always reject your communal politics”
While the blame game and war of words continues between political parties, residents of Dhulagarh continue to live in fear.