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Hindus in West Bengal
under Attacks by Muslim
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By Ranjit Roy
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Hindus in West Bengal are now under attack from Muslim
fundamentalists, who are mostly Bangladeshi infiltrators, with an active
support from the ruling CPM. The communists in the state are desperate to woo
Muslims after their humiliating defeat in the recent panchayat and civic body
elections. The communists believe that due to the state government’s
agricultural land grab policy for industry has alienated rural Muslims from
the party and responsible for poll debacles. The party and its government are
now liberally distributing favours to Muslims in the state such as setting up
of Muslim religious university, named Alia
University, in Kolkata’s
Muslim populated area
Park Circus. The chief
minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has offered his government’s financial
assistance only to Muslim students seeking higher education. Mamata
Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress is not lagging behind in Muslim
appeasements. She has announced that gram panchayats and panchyat samities
won by her party in South 24 Parganas district will be run by local Muslims
only.
Emboldened by the appeasement policy of the ruling party as well as the main Opposition party in the state, a section of Muslim fundamentalist outfits are gearing up an unprecedented attacks on Hindus in South Bengal districts. The first major attack was reported in Gangasagar, the holy confluence of the river Ganga and Bay of Bengal, on June 12 this year. About 200 Hindu pilgrims were assembled there for a holy dip at the confluence and listen to discourses on Hindu religious texts by leaders of Hindu Samhati Mancha. The peaceful Hindu assembly was attacked by a frenzied 3000-strong Muslim mob led by a local CPM leader Sheikh Ismail. Like infamous Godhra train burning incident in Gujarat, the heavily armed Muslim goons set fire to bamboo pavilion erected for the pilgrims assembled in the evening to listen to religious discourses. The goons also set fire to Viswa Hindu Parishad’s guest house where some pilgrims had taken shelter. The VHP guest house was badly damaged due to fire and ransacking. Strangely, the police remained onlookers during the murderous attack on Hindu pilgrims and later arrested only the leaders of Hindu Samhati Mancha and a few injured pilgrims. It is really a shame for Bengal’s media that suppressed the incident to appease the ruling CPM and its Muslim stooges. It was only the Bengali weekly Swastika that came out with detail reorts and pictures. The West Bengal unit of the VHP had also organized demonstration in protest. It may not be known to many outside West Bengal that the sacred Gangasagar Island is now dominated by Muslim majority population migrated from Bangladesh illegally thanks to the CPM’s policy of Muslim appeasement only to get their votes.
The
second major attack on Hindus was reported on July 8 when Swami
Punyalokanandaji, a monk of Ramakrishna Order and Adhyaksha of the
Ramakrishna Ashram at Gorehat under Joynagar police station in South 24
Parganas was stripped and beaten up by CPM goons. Revered Swamiji is a
Hindu social reformer who was initiated in sannyas by Swami
Gambhiranandaji Maharaj, the 11th President of Ramakrishna Math and
Mission, Belur, Howrah. Swami Punnyalokanandaji is devoted for the
upliftment of the poor and underprivileged people at Gorehat since he
has taken over as the head of the ashram. Swamiji was trying hard to
start a free coaching centre for the primary school boys and
homeopathic dispensary in the ashram campus. But Mohammed Abdur Ali, a
local CPM leader and his associates have planned to set up a country
liquor shop in the ashram campus capturing the ashram room for coaching
students and the dispensary just by flexing their muscle power. The
local Muslim goons, led by the CPM leader Abdur Ali, attacked Swamiji
with iron rods and lathis and tied him with a tree before stripping him
off his saffron robes and beat him mercilessly till he became
senseless. This ghastly scene was witnessed by hundreds of local people
as the attack was made by the Muslim goons in the morning. But none
came forward to save Swamiji fearing reprisal from the local Muslim
goons sheltered by the CPM bosses. The police came to the spot only
after the Muslim fanatics had satisfied themselves by blood-shed of a
peaceful Hindu monk. Strangely, again, the police did not arrest a
single culprit so far except registering a general diary (No. 168/08)
about the attack on Swamiji at the Joynagar police station. Swamiji had
many injuries in his body including scull. Some devotees of Swamiji
took him to Kolkata’s SSKM government hospital for C.T Scan of brain
and necessary treatment. Swamiji is now out of danger. Swamiji had
earlier met the district magistrate and the district superintendent of
police apprehending murderous attacks on him and on the ashram and
requested them in writing for protection. But they did not take steps
to protect the Hindu monk mainly due to fearing backlash of the Muslim
fundamentalist groups and red eyes of the ruling communists. The two
successive barbaric incidents and complete police inaction led to a
panic among peace-loving Hindus all over West Bengal. The incidents
have clearly showed that the CPM has adopted a tactic of torture
against Hindus only to win the hearts of the Muslims to regain their
support in the Lok Sabha elections.
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