A well organised and meticulously planned attack on Hindus unleashed havoc in different parts of Naliakhari area under Canning PS in the South 24 Paraganas district of West Bengal on 19/02/13. Some 250 Hindu houses were looted, bombed and set on fire. Hundreds of temples and idols were desecrated. According to the locals some 250 to 300 houses were looted by Muslim mob shouthing allha o akbar in Dhoparmor, Herobhanga, Goladohora, Gopalpur areas of Naliakhali.
Head master of the G Naliakhali High School, Abdul Salam Mollah openly instigated the Muslims to attack Hindus and their property. He addressed the Hindus as ‘kafirs who killed Kasab and Afzal. It should be noted here that this very Abdul Salam Mollha had organised a condolence meeting in memory of Afzal in this area a few days back only. As per eye-witnesses, since a bullet ridden body of a controversial Muslim cleric was recovered near a place called Ghutiyari Sharif during early morning of 19th Feb. Muslim clerics and leaders started anti-Hindu propaganda over loud speakers atop their mosques.
The murder of the controversial cleric was blamed upon the RSS though the police did not corroborate this. As per intelligence report with the police, massive mobilisation of Muslim youth was organised from adjoining areas of Sundarban and South 24 paraganas districts. Muslim youth in hundreds were ferried in trucks from as far as Gardenreach and Metiaburuz of Kolkata. Namita and Basudev Naskar’s pucca house was first broke opened and then petrol bomb was charged inside the rooms and all articles burnt down. Before setting on fire steel almirahs were opened and ornaments, cash and all valuables were looted. Manimohan Mandal’s house was completely gutted along with his poultry farm with 800 odd chickens.
Jamuna Naskar and her husband Paritosh said that inspite of repeated calls to the local police no one turned up to protect them. Others like Brindavan Mandal and Uttam Mandal claimed that some 25-30 policemen stood as mute spectators when this mayhem was taking place. A well-off contractor Sri Prashanta Adhikari had his SUV burnt. Household vehicles like auto rickshaws, motorcycles and bicycles belonging to the Hindus are all gutted. Most of the villagers we spoke claimed that all this happened with tacit connivance of the administration and police. They claimed that how come thousands of muslims were mobilised and ferried in open daylight on trucks crossing so many PS areas without attracting any police and administration’s attention.
Young National cycling champion, Km. Chandana Mandal, who earlier participated in the National Games in Punjab & Jharkhand had her imported bycycle costing over 1 lakh, burnt along with all her school, college certificates and other sports equipments worth another 50,000 rupees. Almost all the Hindus affected in this carnage belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC).
Locals also claim that it was the late action by the police in clearing the dead body of the Muslim cleric that made the matters worse. Had the body been cleared quickly the matter might not have deteriorated so much. They claim that though the body was spotted around six in the morning, it was only cleared by the local police around one in the afternoon. In every household the mob desecrated the puja place and Hindu idols. At every place the mob made it a point to urinate over idols and Tulsi Manch. The condition of some 1800 hapless Hindus with no food and shelter is precarious and pathetic.
As per the latest news available the RSS and Bharat Sevashram Sangh despatched relief materiel for the bereaved Hindus. A BJP delegation led by National Executive Member Tathagata Roy, State Yuva Morcha president Amitava Roy and other state leaders and supporters visited the violence hit areas. Latter accompanied by Shri Tathagata Roy and others Shri Manimohan Mandal lodged an FIR at the Canning PS. Another 5 FIRs were also lodged by other sufferers simultaneously. Shri Tathagata Roy said, “The fact that the body of the Muslim cleric was spotted around 6 am and by 7am truckload of Muslim mob started reaching Naliakhali area from far-flung areas and selectively attacked Hindu dwellings, itself proves that there has been a deep-rooted conspiracy behind this riots.” Though the SDPO Biswajit Mahato and one CI Sri Pande accompanied the BJP delegation throughout but when asked specific question by this correspondent over outpouring of sentiments against the police and the allegation of inaction and connivance, both the officers refused to make any comments.
The most despicable aspect of all this is the total blackout of this barbaric and communal assault by the media. The media that doesn’t loses any opportunity to shed tears over Gujarat for decades now have been totally silent over this.
(Krishanu Mitra, VSK, Kolkata)
