West Bengal Police stopped Opposition leaders from reaching the communal violence-hit villages by over in North 24-Paraganas district on July 7, 2017.
The BJP team was stopped in a place called Michael Nagar, adjacent to Kolkata airport, while the members of Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI(M) were stopped at Barasat town and Ashokenagar respectively.
BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said that they have had no intention of breaking the law. “But even then we were stopped from reaching the affected areas. We asked the police to arrest us,” he said. The team was detained.
Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly, who was leading the team and another leader Locket Chatterjee, both former actors, were also detained.
Being stopped at Ashokenagar-Deganga, CPI(M) MLA Tanmay Bhattacharya said that the Chief Minister should have clarified that “MLAs and MPs are not allowed to walk on streets in North 24 Paraganas.” Md. Salim and Mr. Bhattacharya led the CPI(M) team.
“We wanted to reach the spot to request people to maintain calm but we were stopped which is unfortunate,” said Adhir Chowdhury, the president of Congress’ West Bengal unit.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requested the Opposition on July 6, 2017 to refrain from reaching communally sensitive areas of North 24 Paraganas.
There was unrest in a couple of blocks on July 3, 2017 following an obscene Facebook post by a class 12 boy targeting Islam and its Prophet. The boy was taken into custody and the flare up was contained by July 5, 2017.
The problem was exacerbated following a public face-off between the Governor and the Chief Minister. One of the top BJP leaders Rahul Sinha claimed that the Governor is a “trusted lieutenant of Modi” which has fueled the ongoing crisis.
With the rise of BJP in Bengal the State is witnessing routine communal unrest over last couple of years.
With more than 25% Muslim population, North 24 Paraganas witnessed few clashes between communities over last couple of years. However none were as big as last Mondays'.
