Kolkata: West Bengal, which always proud of its diverse culture has recently witnessed several clashes and riots between communities, and now it has also become the focal point of exhibiting the high voltage nationalism, as for one reason or other people are being thrashed and termed ‘anti-national’.
Post Pulwama terror attack a series of mob violence has taken place across Bengal.
On Tuesday night, in Nadia district, a Kashmiri trader Javed Ahmed Khan was beaten badly.
A mob comprising 30 people stormed into his rented house, and beat Khan.
The mob beat him when a local boy of about 17 years, posted Khan’s picture with an inciting post on Feb 18 on his Facebook wall.
The post written in Bengali stated, “This Kashmiri brother who used to play with us when I was in Class IX, has made some remarks in favour of Pakistan. He has a shop in the market area. Enough! Let’s settle things brother.”
The teenager who posted the video of the assault on his Facebook wall deleted it after circulating the video.
The local police station is keeping a strict vigil to avert any undesirable incident. “Khan is safe. We would not let anything like this happen again,” said officer-in-charge, of Taherpur police station, Avijit Biswas.
According to the locals, the family of the boy is a hardcore BJP supporter. At least five persons reportedly arrested in connection with assault of Kashmir traders.
In Nadia district, in the last couple of years, has witnessed several incidents of communal violence. This is the third major incident in the small town during the last three years. Church vandalism took place in 2015 and destruction of Trinamool Congress office in 2017.
OC Abhijit Biswas confirmed that Javed Ahmed Khan has not written anything on his Facebook wall in favour of Pakistan. So the allegations were completely false. No complain had been lodged against the boy by anyone.
After the Pulwama terror attack, a series of mob reaction is happening across Bengal. Irrespective of religious identity, the Hinduvta mobs are targeting those who are voicing their opinion against war or last week’s terror attack.
A first year college student Anik Das, a resident of Coochbehar district of North Bengal was made to apologise for his post on social media. A video has gone viral on social media where the mob was seen barging into the house of Das whose father used to work for the Border Security Force. They were calling Das ‘anti-national’ because the mob accused him of sharing a voice on social media where he had allegedly said that he doesn’t love his country. The mob demanded that Das should be handed over to them.
Both the parents were in extreme shock. The disturbed mother was seen slapping her son in front of everyone.
As soon as Das was handed over to them, they surrounded him. The mob forced him to kneel down on road and raise slogans like ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ and ‘Indian Army Zindabad’. He was even made to do sit ups holding his ears.
Das’s ordeal lasted for 15 minutes that ended when he wrapped a tricolour around him while raising patriotic slogans.
In another incident, a mob gathered at the residence of a school teacher Chitradeep Shome in Bongaon, North 24 district. He was confronted over his post on social media where he allegedly questioned the use of the term ‘martyr’ for those killed at Pulwama terror attack.
Shome clarified that a section of his comment was being circulated out of context. But the mob was not in a mood to listen to him. They forced him to raise patriotic slogans while forcing him to touch ground with folded hands and apologize live on social media.
While Kashmiris, living in Kolkata or other parts of state for years now, have been on line of fire. eNewsroom had reported about a Kashmiri doctor getting death threats, and his daughter even faced discrimination in society, two Kashmiri students were also got beaten in Durgapur.
While it’s a major law and order issue, so far, the Kolkata Commissioner of Police, Anuj Sharma who replaced Rajeev Kumar told media persons after assuming office that Kashmiris are safe in Bengal.
