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32 Durga Puja Committees suspend Puja in Deganga to protest riots By Asim Kumar Mitra THE one-sided riot in Deganga under the district of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, on September 6, 2010, is still haunting the Hindus of the area. Many are yet to return home. Burnt and destroyed houses are yet to be rebuilt. In the meantime, a new mosque has come up at the centre of the bazaar area of Deganga and regular azaan and namaaz are being performed there, much to the heart boiling of Hindus. Hindus of all political colours are united, not only for restoring their homes and hearths, but also to defeat the ill motive of Muslims. Muslims are out to capture the whole area. Hindus, on the other hand, have put forward 10-point demands before the ruling party of the state (CPIM) and the main opposition party (TMC). Apart from the Indian National Congress (INC), these two parties are shamelessly appeasing the Muslims. According to the Hindus of the area, Hazi Nurul Islam, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP was the main architect of this ghastly incident. CPM and INC have given their covert but active support to the Muslims. For example the administration was hands in glove with Muslims. Local people alleged that Arup Ghosh, the officer-in-charge of the Deganga Police Station, wanted to camouflage the press and the public by putting himself as a victim of Muslim attack. But the fact remained that the whole show of attack on Arup Ghosh was pre-planned. And further allegation was that he did not allow the Rapid Action Force (RAF) to come out from their trucks to tackle the riot on September 6. There were other allegations as well. Hindus want that the culprits should be immediately arrested, especially, Hazi Nurul Islam has to be brought to book. It was for him the whole communal situation had been vitiated. Arup Ghosh was carrying out the orders of both local MP and the administration run by the CPM. The Hindus want that the illegal mosque set up at the centre of the bazaar should also be immediately removed. Compensation has to be given to the affected and suffered persons (conspicuously, all Hindus). They said that if these demands are not met they are going to boycott the Durga Puja which is a great festival of the season. Around 38 Durga Puja Committees have declared that they were not going to hold the Puja this year in protest against the injustices inflicted on them. The Devi Paksha started from October 7, 2010. The four-day main Puja would start from October 13. Till this day all committees were determined not to hold the Puja. But the latest news alleged that six Puja Committees have been persuaded by the local MP with the help of huge amount of donation to perform Puja and they agreed. Thirty two Puja Committees did not toe the line and they had taken a vow to fight to the last. BJP, the only political party, had come forward to the rescue of Hindus. First they had sent parliamentary representatives to survey the damage done to the Hindus. They had mounted pressure on the state government to give compensation to those who had lost their houses, shops and other valuables. Shri Tathagata Roy, former president of state BJP, said that state government has started giving compensation to suffered people because of their pressure. On October 4, BJP had organised a huge meeting in Deganga. In recent times such a huge meeting was not noticed and that too organised by Hindus was unimaginable. This meeting was addressed by BJP leaders Vinay Katiyar MP, Tathagata Roy, Rahul Sinha etc. Now the vote politics in this area and the adjacent areas are taking a different turn altogether. Unity of Hindus, especially, the enthusiasm of young Hindus to join hands with RSS, BJP, Bajrang Dal etc. has cautioned the other political parties that appeasing only one community for ‘vote bank’ will not do to safeguard their political interest. The mysterious silence of media on this issue has infuriated the people of riot-torn Deganga. Except The Indian Express, no other newspaper including all language newspapers have preferred to suppress the news of this ghastly incident. On the first two days, of course, other newspapers had touched the news without giving any details. But that was it. Electronic media, who make noises if a dog dies on the street, did not even buzz let alone giving a full fledged coverage of the situation. It is a shame on the part of media.

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