Gajan festival demolished in Mandirbzar, South 24 Paraganas
Islamist onslaughts rampant; Hindus
not dispirited but defiant
Gajan Utsav (festival) in Bengal
happens to be a traditional dance coupled with songs to venerate Lord Shiva
during Chaitra or the last month of Bengali calendar and this has been going
for centuries. But radical Muslims are no more ready to let it go; the village
of Bodokania within the jurisdiction of Mandirbazar police station in the
district of South 24 Paraganas had its wrath on April 12. It was at 9 pm when a
few Hindu youths in Bodokania came across a group of Muslim youths beside the village’s
thoroughfare drinking hard liquor and also using marijuana. Since it was near
to the Gajan Utsav of 150 years old, Hindus asked them to leave which was
denied instantly. Two Hindu youths, in response, were slapped as well leading
to exchanges of both words and blows between the two groups. Within a few minutes, Muslims in large numbers
from the nearby village of Banshidharpur Haldarpara turned up making Hindus
there a minuscule minority. This large gathering lost no time to smash up the
Hindu youths and albeit, the youths managed to escape, they were chased by
Islamists in large numbers. Gajan Utsav came to a halt.
A bomb was hurled at this time to
foil the Hindu celebration but it was avenged by another bomb and a good number
of people, both Hindus and Muslims, got injured. According to locals, two
Hindus along with seven Muslims were harmed grievously. This series of attacks
attracted more Islamists to take part in the onslaught. Suddenly, the electricity
was cut off and the entire area plunged into darkness. Triumphs in war depends
on exploiting abrupt developments perfectly and true to form, Islamists beefed
up attacks then through using lethal weapons including firearms, bombs but
Hindus were also in no mood to cede to them. Hence, a war of weapons let loose.
Pebbles were also exchanged by the two warring communities violently. To stamp
down the rising menace, a large team of police from the police station of Joynagar
appeared within the next 30 minutes; they were soon followed by another contingent
of police from the Mandirbazar police station. On the word of local
administration, the situation (by then) was completely out of control and
hence, they could do nothing except to fire tear gas at both groups and wait
till the deployment of an unit of Rapid Action Force. Despite RAF’s deployment,
one could hear bombings from miles away.
None,
in accordance with the latest information, has been arrested yet. But Islamists
have been found to allege Pratap Naskar, Chiranjit Naskar and a few others to mastermind
the entire defence. The situation is extremely tricky now; however, no further
acts of violence have taken place yet thanks to the presence of police and RAF
in strength in the midst of Bodokania. Hindus are having sleepless nights now
as the security will be withdrawn in the next three days. What appalls them is the
aggression of Islamists baying for blood of several Hindu youths including
Pratap Naskar and Chiranjit Naskar. They are groping in darkness for a peaceable
solution which seems to have been lost for the time being.
Hindu Samhati regularly
monitors and reports violations against Hindus in West Bengal. We also work
with both governmental and NGO agencies for proper education on protection and
ensure remedies to the Hindu populace as per prevailing law of the land.
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