Prophet remarks row: Bengal’s violence-hit areas peaceable; political blame recreation continues

By PTI

KOLKATA: The state of affairs in areas of West Bengal which witnessed arson throughout protests in opposition to controversial remarks by suspended BJP leaders on Prophet Mohammad remained peaceable on Tuesday as heavy police deployment to regulate any untoward state of affairs continued, police mentioned.

More than 240 individuals have been arrested and over 42 instances registered in reference to the violence since June 9, the police mentioned.

“The situation in West Bengal is peaceful and normal. There is no information of any untoward incident till 6 PM. We are continuing with the deployment of a good number of policemen in the violence-hit areas. Senior officers are there in the districts,” ADG (Law and Order) Javed Shamim instructed PTI.

Raids and patrolling by policemen have been carried out within the violence-hit areas and some arrests have been made on Monday night time.

FIRs have been registered in Howrah, Murshidabad, Nadia and North and South 24 Parganas districts which witnessed violence since Thursday, he mentioned.

Prohibitory orders below Section 144 will stay in place in Howrah district, Beldanga in Murshidabad and Bethuadahari in Nadia until June 15, he mentioned.

“Intensive search operations for the culprits are on. They will be booked under stricter IPC sections depending on the evidence we have collected from different places,” Shamim mentioned.

Internet companies have resumed in Howrah from Monday however will remian suspended in Beldanga until June 15, he mentioned.

The determination on resumption of the companies in Bethuadahari might be taken after reviewing the state of affairs there, a senior official of the state house division mentioned.

Meanwhile, RPF and GRP have been deployed at varied railway stations of the state to keep away from any untoward incidents and disruption of prepare companies.

Kolkata Police made elaborate safety preparations throughout the day for a programme by the minority group in Esplanade space of the town which handed of peacefully.

“There was no incident at the programme. We had to divert the traffic,” a police officer mentioned.

The state authorities on Monday issued an advisory for all multiple-system operators (MSOs) and cable operators within the state to chorus from transmitting any delicate content material violative of Cable Television Network Act, 1995.

Reacting to the advisory, the opposition BJP alleged that the TMC authorities is “trying to gag the media and hide the truth”.

“What do fascist governments do when they want to hide their incompetence or premeditated acts of omission? They target the media and clamp down on coverage that exposes them. Mamata Banerjee’s administration has done just that – issued a draconian diktat warning the media of consequences,” BJP co-incharge of Bengal Amit Malviya tweeted.

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar alleged, “The state government failed to control the situation by allowing the violence and arson to take place to appease its vote bank politics. Now when the entire country is witnessing lawless situation, the state government is trying to stifle the voice of the media. This is a direct attack on press freedom,” he mentioned.

The TMC in its flip dubbed the allegations as “baseless”.

“The TMC government believes in the freedom of the press. BJP leaders should be the last to lecture us on press freedom. The state government has taken all steps to contain the violence,” senior TMC chief Tapas Ray mentioned.

Meanwhile, Jagannath Sarkar, BJP MP from Ranaghat in Nadia district wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar requesting their “intervention” to regulate the violent state of affairs within the state and apprehended that the state of affairs would possibly flip worse within the days to return.