Muslims attack Hindus in Deganga

A one-sided riot
Muslims attack Hindus in Deganga
By Asim Kumar Mitra

Hindu temples desecrated, market looted, houses ransacked and several policemen injured at Deganga

ON September 6, 2010, Deganga, only 35 kilometres away from Kolkata, experienced a one-sided armed attack in an area where only Hindus live. Attackers are none else than fanatic Muslims. Muslims constitute 69.51 per cent of the total population of the area. Although Deganga (under the district of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal) belongs to India, Hindus living here are in worst condition than Hindus living in Bangladesh. At least Hindus in Bangladesh are more secured and safe than Hindus of this area. Despite of being in minority Hindus in Bangladesh are organised and getting protection under the present government there. But here in Deganga Hindus are getting worst treatment from the so-called majority community i.e. Muslims because they command the area with 69.51 per cent population.

In Deganga, political leaders of different parties including Trinamool Congress, Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), etc. as major political parties of the State are vying with one another as to appease the Muslims. If the Marxist Chief Minister of the State promises something for the Muslims, TMC leader Mamata Banerjee looses no time to declare something more for the Muslims. The minority community of the State i.e. Hindus are at a loss to see the worst type of appeasing mentality of the major parties just to win over the Muslim votes. Most unfortunate matter is that Mamata Banerjee has kept herself busy attending Iftar parties and never goes to Deganga to see the pathetic condition of the Hindus. Because they all treat Hindus as ‘taken for granted’.

Although Mamata Banerjee is always very much receptive towards any problem faced by the people and she is always seen by the side of the suffering people, this time when Hindus were attacked by the fanatic Muslims, Mamata Banerjee was no where seen near the suffering people of Deganga. The people of Deganga put forward questions: "Why Didi, we are neglected by you? Are we not also equal voters? Do you not want our votes? Or you just neglect us because we are less in number in this particular area." Actually Mamata Banerjee is being called as "Mamata Khatun" by the Hindus here.

Under these circumstances what will be the fate of "Mamata wave" for change of government in this State in 2011? Who will then come to power?

At least one political party of India -BJP has realised the seriousness of the incident and has taken the issue on national level. Shri LK Advani took special initiative to send an observer team under the leadership of Shri Chandan Mitra, MP. The team immediately rushed to the spot on September 9.

On September 6, 2010, evening after iftar was over, Muslims assembled in the Deganga Mosque (Basirhat subdivision of North 24-Parganas) and proceeded towards Hindu areas, looted and ransacked many Hindu shops and Hindu temples, severely beat up many Hindus, torched four public buses. The life in the whole area from Berachanpa to Kadambagachi, all of a sudden became standstill.

Shani (Saturn) Temple of Kartickpur and Kali Temple of Deganga Biplabi Colony has been desecrated and ransacked by the rioting Muslims.

On September 6 at 11 am, the dispute started when some fanatic Muslims started to dig the passage of a Durga Temple in Chattal Pally village which is situated just beside the Deganga Police Station. This Durga Temple is at least 25 years old. In the past, Muslims tried many times sto stop the Durga Puja. Hindus resisted their ill effort.

Chattal Pally and Deganga Police Station come under the district of North 24 Parganas and its Parliamentary constituency is Basirhat. In the Parliamentary elections of 2009, Hazi Nurul Islam of Trinamool Congress won this constituency defeating long time Communist Party MP Ajay Chakraborty (CPI). After this change of power, Hindus started facing all types of threat, humiliation, torture and their religious places got in danger.

When Hindus objected to the digging of the Temple passage, Muslims gathered there in large number and started ransacking houses, plundering Hindu shops and torching public vehicles. Muslims claimed that the location of the Durga Puja pandal at Chattal Pally has blocked the gate of a burial ground. This was a baseless allegation. Because Durga Puja pandal is put on the same place, every year. Hindus informed the police. Police rushed to the place and they had to face the belligerent and fanatic Muslims. Officer-in-Charge of the Police Station, Arup Ghosh got injured, in the clash. Muslims left the place after threatening the Hindus that they would soon come back after taking Iftar.

In the mean time more police force was deployed and Rapid Action Force (RAF) had taken position. According to the police Muslims used crude bombs and sharp weapons to attack the Hindus. Over 50 shops and 30 houses of the Hindus in the area were ransacked and four vehicles and two police vans were torched on September 7. On the same day three ministers, Asim Dasgupta, Ranjit Kundu and Mortaza Hussain visited the area. But fanatics never stopped till the RAF opened fire.

For how long our media would go on suppressing facts on the false plea of peace and tranquillity? In democracy, suppression of facts is a crime. People have every right to know the facts and Media is duty-bound to provide people with correct information.

BJP Parliamentary Delegation visits Deganga
Demands arrest of culprits

A BJP Parliamentary Delegation consisting of Shri Chandan Mitra, MP (Rajya Sabha) and Prabhari of West Bengal, and Shri Uday Singh MP (Lok Sabha), visited the Deganga Block and adjoining areas of Basirhat and Barasat in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on September 9, 2010. They were accompanied by Shri Rahul Sinha, President, West Bengal State BJP, Shri Tathagata Roy, former State President WB BJP and other senior office-bearers of the party’s West Bengal unit.

The Parliamentary Delegation visited areas affected by serious communal disturbances. They surveyed the disturbed localities of Deganga Bazar, Kartickpur and several interior villages to examine the situation first hand and also provide reassurance to the terrified victims of the wanton violence selectively unleashed on members of the Hindu community by the Muslim goondas acting under the direction of the Basirhat Trinamool Congress Party MP, Haji Nurul Islam.

The Delegation found that more than 250 shops and houses and had been vandalised, set on fire by the miscreants. The victims tearfully narrated their heart-rending tale and bitterly complained of violence and humiliation at the hands of goonda elements brought in from outside. Victims also complained of police inertia on the first day of violence, that is, September 6, 2010. Although the State Police, RAF and even the Army have since been deployed, an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty prevails. The Army conducted a flag march only along the main highway, while the police apparently claimed that they were under orders not to use force against the rioters. Only on September 7, after sustained violence against the targeted community (i.e. the Hindus) the RAF swung into action and managed to bring the situation under tenuous control.

The disturbances began with a deliberate attempt to disrupt erection of a Durga Puja pandal at Chattal village although the site has been used for performing community puja for the last 40 years and a permanent temple also stands there. The site adjoins a Muslim graveyard and recently attempts have been made to stop the Durga Puja at its traditional site on the ground that ownership of the land is disputed.

Taking advantage of the disturbances unleashed by Haji Nurul Islam’s goons, the rioters mounted a mike atop the Deganga Bazar mosque in violation of a High Court order prohibiting the use of a microphone at the shrine. The local Hindu community was seriously aggrieved and agitated over this action especially because the police did not intervened to dismantle the mike despite its promise to the community leaders. The BJP delegation also visited the Kali temple at Kartickpur which has been severely vandalised by the miscreants.

The delegation visited the Deganga thana and interacted with I-G Sanjoy Mukherjee and SP Rahul Srivastava. While appreciating the police’s concern to restore normalcy first, the MPs demanded that the miscreants be promptly apprehended in order to restore confidence.

The BJP has demanded immediate arrest of TMC MP Haji Nurul Islam who, from all accounts, incited the mob into communal frenzy and has been named in the FIR lodged by local people. The BJP leaders sought proactive intervention by security forces to ensure that the terrified local populace feels secure once more. Further, it was astonishing to learn that none of the other political parties had made any effort to provide succour to the thousands of victims and the administration had adopted a hands-off policy.

The BJP leaders demanded immediate intervention by the Government of West Bengal to arrest the culprits, provide compensation to the victims, restore the status quo with regard to local disputes and usher in a sense of security in the troubled area.
(FOC)