Deganga Riots – BJP demands arrest of TMC MP Haji Nurul

The Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded immediate arrest of Trinamool Congress MP Haji Nurul Islam for his alleged role in inciting a mob into communal frenzy at Debganga in North 24 Parganas district. Nurul Islam’s name figures in the FIR lodged by local people.

Seeking compensation for people whose houses and shops have been looted and burnt, the BJP has also sought intervention by the security forces to ensure that the terrified local populace feels secure.

It pointed out that many people, particularly young women, had been forced to flee the locality fearing molestation and worse. “Conditions for their return to their homes must be created forthwith, the party demanded.

A BJP parliamentary delegation consisting of Chandan Mitra, MP and Prabhari of West Bengal, and Uday Singh, MP, visited the Deganga Block and adjoining areas of Basirhat and Barasat on Thursday. They were accompanied by Rahul Sinha, West Bengal BJP president; Tathagata Roy, former State BJP chief and other senior office-bearers of the party’s West Bengal unit.

The delegation visited areas affected by serious communal disturbances earlier this week. In a Press release, the party said the delegation members surveyed the disturbed localities and several interior villages to examine the situation first hand and also provide reassurance to the terrified victims of the wanton violence selectively unleashed on members of the Hindu community by anti-social elements acting under the direction of Haji Nurul Islam.

The delegation found that more than 250 shops and houses had been vandalised or set on fire by the miscreants. The victims complained of violence and humiliation at the hands of goonda elements brought in from outside and police inertia on the first day of violence on September 6.

“Although the State Police, RAF and even the Army have since been deployed, an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty prevails,” the party said, adding, “The Army conducted a flag march only along the main highway, while the police apparently claimed that they were under orders not to use force against the rioters. Only on Tuesday, after sustained violence against the targeted community spread to interior villages did the RAF swing into action and manage to bring the situation under tenuous control.”

The party pointed out that the disturbances began with a deliberate attempt to disrupt erection of a Durga Puja pandal at Chattal village although the site has been used for performing community puja for the last 40 years and a permanent temple also stands there. The site adjoins a Muslim graveyard and recently attempts have been made to stop Durga Puja at its traditional site on the ground that ownership of the land is disputed, the party stated.

The party said that taking advantage of the disturbances unleashed by Haji Nurul Islam’s goons, the rioters mounted a mike atop Deganga Bazar mosque in violation of a High Court order prohibiting the use of a microphone at the shrine. “The local Hindu community is seriously aggrieved and agitated over this action, especially because the police have not intervened to dismantle the mike despite its promise to the community leaders. The BJP delegation was also taken to the Kali temple at Kartickpur which has been severely vandalised by the miscreants,” it said.

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