Clashes in West Bengal's Hooghly during Ram Navami rally, BJP MLA injured
Rishra (WB), Apr 2: Clashes broke out between two groups during a Ram Navami procession in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Sunday evening, following which prohibitory orders were imposed and the internet was suspended, police said.
Two Ram Navami processions were organised in the Rishra police station area, and the second one was attacked near Wellington Jute Mill More at GT Road around 6.15 pm, they said.
A few police personnel were injured in the violence, they added.
BJP vice-president Dilip Ghosh, who was in the procession that was attacked, told PTI that people were walking peacefully to the Jagannath temple in Mahesh when stones were hurled at it.
Pursurah BJP MLA Biman Ghosh was injured in the violence, he said.
A senior officer of the Chandannagar Police Commissionerate said, "Medinipur MP Dilip Ghosh and Pursurah MLA Biman Ghosh were present in the procession that was attacked. It was going through the traditional route when a group started throwing stones at it. We took immediate steps to address the situation."
Arrests are yet to be made in connection with the violence, she said.
Quick action was taken by the police and the situation is now under control, she said.
A heavy police deployment has been made in the area to prevent any further flare-up, the officer said.
"Police are doing route march, and prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144 have been imposed in Rishra wards 1-5 and Serampore's ward 24. Internet services will remain suspended in parts of Rishra and Serampore till 10 pm on Monday," she said.
Governor CV Ananda Bose, who is at present in Darjeeling, said those behind the violence will be "booked tonight itself and put behind bars".
"The miscreants, the hooligans, and the thugs will be crushed with an iron hand. They will be made to curse the day they were born. Mobocracy cannot derail democracy. We are determined, the state is determined to put an end to this arson and looting," he said.
"The lawbreakers and their abettors will soon realise they are playing with fire. Reinforcement of forces has already rushed to the spot. The culprits will be booked tonight itself and put behind bars we are determined," he added.
Bose said this kind of hooliganism, which thwarts the democratic processes, will be "coffined".
BJP's Ghosh said there were many women and children in the procession that was attacked.
"Suddenly, stones were hurled at us from one side of the road. Several policemen were also injured in the stone-pelting even though I and some other leaders were rescued and taken out of the area through adjacent lanes," he said.
"Police managed to chase away the trouble-makers after being silent spectators for a while," he alleged.
Condemning the violence, state Industry Minister Shashi Panja alleged the BJP was indulging in the destruction of peace and tranquility of the state.
"BJP is known for vandalism of public property, and triggering communal riots all over the country," she alleged.
Panja said the rally, which was attacked, was being led by Dilip Ghosh, "who is known for his provocative statements".
The state government will firmly deal with the situation and take necessary action to punish the perpetrators, she said.
TMC spokesperson Joyprakash Majumdar questioned what was the need to organise the procession two days after Ram Navami.
"Why are they so bent on taking out Ram Navami processions during the holy month of Ramzan? Why was the Ram Navami rally taken out two days later? The BJP wants to engineer riots in Bengal to create instability for political gains," he told PTI.
The BJP was trying to foment trouble by taking religious processions to certain sensitive pockets, he alleged, claiming that it was creating such a situation to demand President's rule in the state.
Majumdar also claimed that those in the rally were carrying weapons such as swords, which created panic among the people.
Violence during Ram Navami celebrations rocked parts of neighbouring Howrah district on Thursday and Friday. Over 45 people were arrested, prohibitory orders were imposed and the internet was suspended to bring the situation under control.
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Pakistan must realise cross-border terrorism against India will invite consequences: India at UNGA
United Nations (PTI): In a strong retort, India has slammed Pakistan in the UN General Assembly, saying its “fingerprints" are on terrorist incidents across the world and the country should realise that cross-border terrorism against India will “inevitably invite consequences”.
India exercised its Right of Reply in the UN General Assembly on Friday in response to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in his address at the General Debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.
“This Assembly regrettably witnessed a travesty this morning. A country run by the military, with a global reputation for terrorism, narcotics trade and transnational crime has had the audacity to attack the world's largest democracy,” First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Bhavika Mangalanandan said, delivering India’s Right of Reply.
She asserted that as the world knows, Pakistan has long employed cross-border terrorism as a weapon against its neighbours.
“It has attacked our Parliament, our financial capital Mumbai, marketplaces and pilgrimage routes,” she said, referring to the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks carried out by Pakistan-based terror groups.
“The list is long. For such a country to speak about violence anywhere is hypocrisy at its worst,” Mangalanandan said.
In his address, Sharif raised the Kashmir issue, as expected, and said that to “secure durable peace”, India should reverse the Abrogation of Article 370 and enter into a dialogue for a “peaceful” resolution of the issue.
He said India has spurned Pakistan’s proposals for a mutual “Strategic Restraint Regime”.
Responding to this reference “to some proposal of strategic restraint”, India asserted that there "can be no compact with terrorism. In fact, Pakistan should realise that cross-border terrorism against India will inevitably invite consequences.”
Reminding the international community that this was a nation that for long hosted Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Mangalanandan said Pakistan’s “fingerprints are on so many terrorist incidents across the world, whose policies attract the dreads of many societies to make it their home.
“Perhaps it should come as no surprise that its prime minister would so speak in this hallowed hall. Yet we must make clear how unacceptable his words are to all of us. We know that Pakistan will seek to counter the truth with more lies. Repetition will change nothing. Our stand is clear and needs no reiteration,” she said.
India stressed that it is even more extraordinary for a country with a history of rigged elections to talk about political choices, that too in a democracy.
“The real truth is that Pakistan covets our territory, and in fact, has continuously used terrorism to disrupt elections in Jammu and Kashmir, an inalienable and integral part of India,” the young Indian diplomat said.
She said it is ridiculous that a nation that committed genocide in 1971 and which persecutes its minorities relentlessly even now, “dare speak about intolerances and phobias. The world can see for itself what Pakistan really is.”
A Pakistani diplomat went on to respond to Mangalanandan with a Right of Reply.
Describing India's assertions as "baseless and misleading", the Pakistani diplomat said the United Nations Security Council, through numerous resolutions, has unequivocally called for a free, impartial plebiscite to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their inalienable right to self- determination.
Every year, Pakistan’s leaders, on expected lines, make references to Jammu and Kashmir in their UNGA speeches and India fields its young diplomats to deliver hard-hitting retorts to Islamabad’s rants.
