The violence in West Bengal that started with a Facebook post doesn’t seem to end anytime soon. In a recent development, a 65-year-old Hindu man died of stab wounds on Thursday. Besides, a fresh violence erupted in parts of West Bengal’s Basirhat region.
Kartik Ghosh, a resident of Bhyabla in Basirhat subdivision was returning home on a motorcycle when he was attacked with sharp weapons on Wednesday. This was the first death in aggression that has been continued since three days.
The violence has swept the Basirhat region, barely 12 kilometres from the Bangladesh border. It has injured at least 23 people so far.
Read More: West Bengal violence: Internet suspended, Section 144 imposed; Centre seeks report
Infuriated by an offensive post on Facebook by a Class 11 Hindu student, Muslim mobs have set shops and buildings on fire and confronted police. On the other hand, Hindu mobs attacked a dargah and vandalised shops with Muslim owners on Thursday. This led police to resort to caning and firing tear gas shells. Reportedly, some Hindus were enraged by alleged vandalism on a temple in the area a day ago.
Soon, the violence has taken a political color. While the BJP has accused chief minister Mamata Banerjee of appeasing Muslims, the ruling party said the governor was behaving like a BJP leader. A team of BJP MPs including, Meenakshi Lekhi, Satpal Singh and Om Mathur is slated to visit Basirhat on Friday.
On Wednesday, Internet services were disrupted in Baduria and Basirhat areas of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas. Section 144 was also imposed in the most unstable areas. The situation turned uncontrollable making the state to seek Centre’s help. Soon, the Union Ministry had dispatched three companies of paramilitary forces. The state government has also been asked to send a detailed report of the occurrence.
