The Union Home Ministry has directed the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal to submit a report on the communal clashes in Baduria town of North 24 Parganas district in the state, which comes under the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency.
On Tuesday, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh over telephone and apprised him about the situation in North 24 Parganas district.
The communal clashes broke out after a teenager, a Class X student, allegedly made offensive remarks in Facebook on a Muslim shrine. Even though the police arrested the teenager, the situation remains tense as the arrest has failed to assuage the Islamists, who want him handed over – a disturbing trend that we had earlier seen in the Kamlesh Tiwari episode and in a few other cases.
According reports, several shops and houses – belonging to Hindus – were ransacked and police vehicles were torched by violent mobs, which also put up road blockades at several places.
Section 144 has been imposed in the violence-hit Basirhat. The Centre, meanwhile, has rushed three companies of paramilitary forces to the region for assisting the state police in containing the situation following an appeal from the Mamata government.
The BJP alleged that the state police has failed to bring the situation under control. The party has urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene. BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is in-charge of party affairs in West Bengal, alleged that over 2,000 Muslims attacked Hindu families in Baduria.
“Bombs went off at many places and information of Hindu sisters and daughters being raped have been received,” he alleged.
Baduria/Basirhat communal clash has sparked war of words between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, which unfortunately is attracting more media interest than the riots themselves.
