West Bengal Deploys Central Forces In 3 Districts After HC Order, CM Mamata Appeals For Peace On Hanuman Jayanti

The MHA has asked all states to ensure law and order during the Hanuman Jayanti festival in the wake of communal violence in Bengal and Bihar during Ram Navami.

Kolkata: The West Bengal government has deployed paramilitary forces in the police commisionerates of Hooghly, Barrackpore and Kolkata for the peaceful conduct of Hanuman Jayanti celebrations on Thursday, following the orders of the Calcutta High Court in this regard. "There will be an ample number of state police forces deployed at sensitive areas in the state and also at those places where violence was witnessed recently. Apart from that, we have decided to deploy three companies of paramilitary forces in Kolkata, Hooghly and Barrackpore commissionerates," a state government official was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

Hooghly, a part of which witnessed violence during the Ram Navami festival recently, and Barrackpore are industrial areas of the state. After a high-level meeting on Wednesday, it was also decided at the meeting that a list of volunteers participating in processions scheduled for the Hanuman Jayanti festival will have to be submitted to the local police station.

"Everyone will be given an identity card by the police. No one will be allowed to participate in the procession without this card," he said. The administration will not allow more than 100 people to participate in any procession on Thursday. 

“We have taken all sorts of precautionary measures and will not allow anything to go wrong Thursday," the official said. The decisions were taken at a meeting held virtually by Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi with senior police officers of the state. "We do not want any repetition of incidents of vandalism or clashes which we witnessed during the Ram Navami processions," the bureaucrat said.

Calcutta HC Asks WB Govt To Requisition Central Forces

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to requisition central forces for assisting the state police in maintaining peace during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations. The order came in the wake of a series of incidents of communal violence reported in Bengal's Howrah and Hooghly districts on the occasion of Ram Navami on March 30-April 1.

The HC said the police will have the discretion to restrict the route of any procession on Hanuman Jayanti considering the "unpleasant" events that have taken place. Additional CCTV cameras will have to be installed and videography has to be done at vantage areas through which the processions pass, the court said, as per a PTI report.

CM Mamata Appals For Peace During Hanuman Jayanti

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has claimed there are plans afoot for another round of violence in the state on Thursday during Hanuman Jayanti and urged everyone to maintain peace. "Tomorrow is Hanuman Jayanti. I will urge everybody to celebrate it peacefully. There will be no problem if peace is observed. Bengal is the land of peace," Banerjee told reporters on Wednesday 

The TMC supremo has been alleging that BJP was behind the recent incidents of clashes in the Howrah and Hooghly districts during Ram Navami celebrations.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry also on Wednesday said central forces have been deployed in West Bengal to assist the state police in maintaining law and order during Hanuman Jayanti. Hanuman Jayanti festival will be celebrated across the country on April 6.