Clashes In Parts Of Kolkata

Communal clashes have erupted between two communities in some areas in and around Kolkata. The clashes come in the wake of the sudden saffron surge in Bengal characterised by numerous and enthusiastic Ram Navami celebrations. The scale of the celebrations have been unprecedented and mark a Hindu consolidation in Bengal. Trouble started breaking out in the peripheries of Kolkata in areas like Metiabruz, Khidderpore, Park Circus, Tiljala and in the outlying areas of Kolkata like Khardah and Barrackpore after Friday prayers.

Some hardline clerics of a community are believed to have given communal sermons and egged on their followers to disrupt Ram Navami celebrations. In many places, men tore down banners and saffron flags put up by Ram Navami celebration organisers, sparking retaliation by the other side which was already incensed over the slapping of non-bailable charges on state BJP President Dilip Ghosh for carrying a sword in a Ram Navami procession. Reports of temples and homes and business establishments of one group being attacked by another are coming in from a few other parts of the state, even though the police are denying such reports. Section of the mainstream media is, of course, blacking out all news of such clashes.

Rapid Action Force (RAF) and armed policemen have been deployed in the trouble spots and have managed to control the clashes, but tension between the two communities is simmering.