Slamming opponent BJP of conspiracy to instigate stir in Bengal, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee announced a peace force to maintain order in the state. ‘Shanti Vahini’, the peace force, will function at booth-level to maintain peace and communal harmony across Banerjee’s Bengal.
“We have taken an administrative decision to create ‘Shanti Vahini’ in the state by including area police and students and youths from each locality,” she said. Banerjee added that teams would get administrative backing and work along with the police to maintain peace in their localities.
“They will monitor if anyone is conspiring to spread tension or start a riot in their area. The teams will also check if these people are misleading locals by spreading rumours about robbery or riot in order to polarise them for their own benefits,” she said.
As a 17-year-old boy’s Facebook post created a ripple of communal violence in 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, Banerjee said the situation was “normal” in Basirhat sub-division, where communal tension prevailed for three days.
Accusing the BJP, Banerjee said that a political party should not use its power and machinery to spread rumours and trigger a riot.
“A political party can be in power at the Centre or the state but they have no right to start a riot or spread rumours by misusing their power and the government machinery,”
“I have heard that provocative statements were made at a meeting near south Kolkata’s Hazra More. If it was a mixed area inhabited by different communities, there could have been a riot. The BJP is holding such provocative meetings under their party’s banner,” she alleged.
