West Bengal's TMC government created confusion over armed Ram Navami rallies: RSS

KOLKATA: The RSS today accused the West Bengal's Trinamool Congress government of trying to appease a particular community and blamed it for creating a "deliberate confusion" over armed Ram Navami rallies and trying to shield fundamentalists involved in the violence.

RSS state general secretary Jishnu Basu alleged that the state government restrained the police from taking action against fundamentalists who had attacked the peaceful Ram Navami rallies.

The government, he said, couldn't decide on the armed rallies and had said it would give selective permission to those who have been holding armed rallies for the last several years, he said.

"From the very beginning, we had said that we don't want to take out any armed rally if the government decides to ban it.

We had said we would abide by the government order, but the state government deliberately created a confusion over it," he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had last week directed the police not to permit any organisation to hold armed processions during Ram Navami, except by those who have been doing it for a long time.

Trouble over Ram Navami processions had erupted in various parts of West Bengal as members of saffron outfits clashed with the police in Murshidabad and Bardhaman West districts yesterday, resulting in a senior police officer losing his hand due to a bomb hurled at him.

One person was killed and five police personnel were injured on Sunday in a clash between two groups in Purulia as sword-wielding BJP supporters defied the state governments ban on armed rallies on Ram Navami.

At Raniganj in Burdwan West district, one person was killed and two police officers were injured in a clash between two groups over a Ram Navami procession organised by the BJP on Monday.

Basu alleged that the TMC-backed fundamentalists had attacked the Ram Navami rallies across the state.

"If you go through the FIRs lodged by the police, you will find the names who had hurled bombs at Ram Navami rallies," he said.

"None of our activists were involved in any kind of violence. False cases are being lodged against us just because we want to celebrate religious festivals. Since Independence, the state has never witnessed such an anti-Hindu atmosphere. The TMC is silent just for the sake of vote bank politics," the RSS leader said.

Hailing the participation in the Ram Navami rallies, Basu said Hindus of the state are uniting against the appeasement politics of the TMC regime.

"If the state pursues separate rule for separate religions, the Hindus will unite to protest against it," he added.