The Calcutta High Court has ordered a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the Ram Navami violence that hit certain parts of West Bengal in March and April this year. The Calcutta High Court’s order for an NIA investigation into West Bengal’s Ram Navami violence came after a team of private ‘fact finders’ that approached it alleged that the incidents of violence were pre-planned.
The private ‘fact finders’ consist of a group of former judges and others, who came to investigate the violence during Ram Navami from other states and were stopped from visiting the troubled spots like Shibpur in Howrah and Rishra in Hooghly district of the state. They filed a case in the Calcutta High Court demanding an NIA investigation into West Bengal’s Ram Navami violence.
The federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has welcomed the Calcutta High Court’s order for an NIA investigation into West Bengal’s Ram Navami violence. The BJP’s IT Cell head Amit Malviya lauded the High Court’s order on social media and blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bandopadhyay’s alleged ‘appeasement policy’ for the violence.
Malviya tweeted, “Let us not forget that communal violence broke out on Ramanavami after Mamata Banerjee delivered a provocative speech. She then absolved the minority community of transgression, prejudicing the law enforcement agencies. However, no violence was reported on Hanumanotsav, after central forces were deployed. Mamata is burning down Bengal to further her regressive politics of appeasement (sic).”
Several BJP leaders, including state chief Sukanta Majumdar and former state chief Dilip Ghosh, have been accused of fomenting violence on Ram Navami in Howrah and Hooghly districts of the state by Bandopadhyay’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). However, the witnesses alleged that the state administration, despite experiencing violent clashes on the occasion in the past, remained nonchalant and didn’t attempt to prevent violence.
Communal clashes erupted in several parts of India, including West Bengal, during Ram Navami celebrations. It’s alleged by the opponents of the BJP that the processions, mostly organised by Hindutva-incensed organisations affiliated with the BJP’s parental body Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), deliberately stoke trouble in minority Muslim areas.
Bandopadhyay’s TMC, which was earlier an ally of the BJP, has alleged that the Union government’s agencies resort to witch-hunting against its ranks and files because of its opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Most of these investigations have been ordered by the Calcutta High Court. The TMC alleges that the federal agencies provide an immunity cover to those who join the BJP but persecute those who oppose it.
As the TMC has locked horns with the BJP, especially targeting the forthcoming Panchayat elections in the state and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Calcutta High Court’s order for an NIA investigation into West Bengal’s Ram Navami violence will stir more trouble for the state government and Bandopadhyay, as the agency will now probe the role of a ministry under the chief minister’s watch.
