Post clashes, Mamata Banerjee appeals for peace; ruckus in Bihar House
New Delhi, April 3
Politics over Ram Navami clashes in Bihar and West Bengal raged on Monday with the opposition BJP demanding the resignation of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the latter appealing to the majority community members to ensure the safety of minorities.
Protect minorities
They are deliberately entering minority areas to incite violence and create tension… I appeal to Hindu brothers to ensure that the minorities are protected. Mamata Banerjee, WB CM
It was pre-planned
The incidents of violence in WB are the result of a pre-planned conspiracy hatched by the CM to divert attention from allegations of corruption against her government. Locket Chatterjee, BJP
Bengal BJP leaders led by Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee today accused Banerjee of “engineering the violence” and demanded her resignation. The MP also sought an investigation by the National Investigation Agency into the violence.
Parts of Hooghly have been engulfed in post-Ram Navami violence, with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition BJP indulging in a blame-game.
Banerjee, while addressing a rally at Khejuri of East Medinipur, asked why processions were being taken out even after Ram Navami.
She alleged attempts at inciting violence and creating chaos, appealing to “Hindu brothers to ensure that the minorities are protected”.
“They are deliberately entering minority areas to incite violence and create tension,” Banerjee said, accusing a section of rioters.
At a press conference, BJP MP Chatterjee said, “The incidents of violence in West Bengal are a result of a pre-planned conspiracy hatched by the CM to divert attention from allegations of corruption against her government and to consolidate Muslim votes in her favour with an eye on upcoming elections.”
Amid violence in Howrah, Hooghly and Uttar Dinajpur districts in West Bengal, Ranaghat MP Jagannath Sarkar said West Bengal could only be saved by the imposition of President’s rule under Article 356 of the Constitution.
In Bihar, internet remained suspended in Sasaram and Nalanda, where violence have been reported since Ram Navami.
The situation in Bihar Sharif, another violence-hit area, remains tense.
Lashing out at the ruling grand alliance government in Bihar, BJP veteran Ravi Shankar Prasad said the state government “has lost the will to control violence”.
The matter resonated in the Assembly, which had to be adjourned amid ruckus over clashes in Bihar.
While the BJP alleged complete breakdown of law and order in the state, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah having to cancel a rally in Sasaram, members of the ruling combine alleged a “BJP-RSS conspiracy” in the riots.
