KOLKATA: Hours after violence in Rishra, Hooghly, during a Ram Navami procession on Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah sought a report from the West Bengal government within three days. Shah wrote to Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi asking him to submit the report on violence in Howrah’s Shibpur and Rishra in Hooghly.
The letter from Delhi to the state government came after the BJP’s Bengal chapter wrote to the Home Minister seeking the Centre’s intervention following the violence. Cutting short his Darjeeling trip, Governor CV Ananda Bose visited the trouble-torn areas in Rishra and assured strict action against law breakers. The Governor was in Darjeeling for a G20 meeting.
“There will be solid action by all law enforcement agencies. We will never allow miscreants to take law in hand. Police will come down heavily on them. Bengal has been suffering for a long time and we will put an end to it,” Bose said.
The Governor also visited SSKM Hospital in Kolkata to visit the injured participants of the Ram Navami procession, including BJP MLA Biman Ghosh. Stone-pelting late on Monday night near a level-crossing in Rishra had led to suspension of train services between Howrah and Bandel section for about three hours.
The services were resumed after midnight. Internet services remained suspended in Rishra as the administration is trying to quell rumours. The district police dismantled a stage which was set up to stage a protest by BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar.
ALSO READ | 19-year-old who carried gun during Ram Navami procession arrested
The BJP president was on Monday stopped by police on Delhi Road near Dankuni as he was not allowed to visit Rishra where section 144 was imposed following the violence.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said these were not clashes between two communities, but criminal acts by goons hired by the BJP. “Violence is not Bengal’s culture. BJP has brought in hired hooligans from outside. This is not communal violence, this is criminal violence,’’ she said while addressing a rally in Khejuri, East Midnapore.
“The BJP is behind the violence in Hooghly and Howrah. They had brought in hired ‘goondas’ from other states to unleash violence in Bengal, which is not in our culture. They pitting one community against another,” she said.
