Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and took stock of the situation in the state where violence broke out between two groups when a Ram Navami procession was taken out in Howrah city on Thursday evening.
In the telephonic conversation with Bose, the Home Minister took detailed notes of the incident that led to violence in Howrah City, where several vehicles were torched and shops were ransacked on Thursday evening. Shah took information about the current situation in the city during a conversation with the West Bengal Governor.
The State Police has said a number of people were detained in connection with the violence that reportedly erupted when the Ram Navami procession was passing through the Kazipara locality in Howrah city. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has assured strict action against the perpetrators of the violence and said that the use of unauthorised routes led to the clash. The BJP, meanwhile, has attacked Banerjee for the violence. On Friday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Locket Chatterjee said that the lives of Hindus in the state are “under threat.” “It is disheartening. Such visuals emerge from Bengal during every Ram Navami and Durga idol immersion. It is not acceptable that the lives of Hindus in Bengal are under threat. When there was violence in Howrah yesterday, Mamata Banerjee was sitting on a 30-hour dharna,” Chatterjee stated. The BJP MP accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of appeasement politics and demanded her resignation.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur also condemned the violence in West Bengal. “During Mamata Banerjee’s rule, journalists were attacked, and stone pelting was done during Ram Navami processions. If journalists are becoming victims of violence and the state government remains a mute spectator, what can be more shameful than this? The more it is condemned, the less it is.” Thakur said. Meanwhile, the situation turned violent in the Shibpur area of Howrah on Friday. Fresh violence broke out on Friday, a day after arson on Ram Navami.
