The Hindu : West Bengal police, VHP activists clash

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 11, 2002

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West Bengal police, VHP activists clash
By Malabika Bhattacharya

KOLKATA, MARCH 10. Police opened fire today to repulse a violent mob of VHP activists, killing one and critically injuring another in a village on the southern outskirts of Kolkata.

Taldih in South 24 Parganas district witnessed a pitched battle between the police and the 2,000-strong mob, over the holding of a yagna at a ground close to the railway station.

Tapas Haldar, a local VHP activist, died on the spot while Dilip Biswas, who had suffered bullet wounds, is in the M.R. Bangur Hospital here in a critical condition. About 60 people, including 25 policemen, were injured in the incident.

Chayan Mukherjee, IGP (Law and Order), said the police had tried to disperse the mob with the help of tear gas and lathi but did not succeed. ``We had to open fire as the mob attacked us,'' he said.

Reports suggest the local VHP unit had informed the administration of its plan to hold the puja and yagna but only a small police force was posted in the area. Tension was building up for the past fortnight after the VHP announced its plan.

One of the VHP leaders, Amar Roy, who was later arrested, claimed that the police had been informed the Superintendent of Police, Dev Kumar Ganguly, asserted that the administration did not give permission for puja. ``We had clamped section 144 last Friday making assembly of people unlawful,'' he said.

The CPI(M) deputed the Land and Land Reform Minister, Abdul Rezzak Mullah, Minister of State for Sunderbans, Kanti Ganguly, and youth leader, Sujan Chakraborty, to monitor the situation. ``The police had no option but to open fire as the VHP activists had turned violent,'' the CPI(M) State secretary, Anil Biswas, said.

Muzzafar Khan, the State BJP vice-president, will lead a three-member delegation to the area tomorrow.

In Asansol, about 200 VHP activist were arrested when they tried to hold a bhoomi puja. The programme there and in 24 Parganas, Burdwan and other districts had been organised as part of the VHP-orchestrated run-up to the puja on March 15 in Ayodhya.

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