By IANS
Kolkata/New Delhi : A protest against atrocities in Nandigram and Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen’s stay in India snowballed into arson and violence, turning Kolkata into a scene of flaming vehicles and scampering school children and forcing deployment of the army here for the first time in 15 years.
Night curfew was clamped in parts of Kolkata.
An unannounced call of a road blockade by the All India Minority Forum (AIMF), headed by Congress leader and lawyer Idris Ali, who is known for his publicity-hungry image, went out of hand as thousands of frenzied people from central Kolkata’s Muslim-inhabited areas unleashed a free-for-all for hours.
Mobs went about torching one vehicle after another, trucks, police vehicles and even an ambulance, and two offices of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). The police fired teargas shells and baton-charged the rioters at various places in the centre of the metropolis.
Several mediapersons and policemen were injured in attacks.
The state government called in the army that moved out for a flag march at 3 p.m.
“Six columns of army, each comprising about 60 troopers, were sought by the state government. Two columns are staging a flag march in affected areas while two are on stand-by. More would be sent if required,” army spokesman Colonel Alok Guha told IANS.
The last time Kolkata saw the army march was after the Babri mosque demolition in December 1992.
Kolkata police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty told IANS that curfew would be clamped from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the Park Street, Entally, Beniapukur, Topsia and Karya police station areas.
Ali condemned the violence but shrugged off his responsibility, saying the violence could have been engineered by vested interest groups.
“We have always tried to voice our protest in a peaceful manner and so I fear this is a sabotage,” Ali told IANS.
“There might be some outsiders who intentionally caused this untoward incident in our protest,” he said but chose to divert the attention on the Muslim community’s “accumulated anger over the state inaction that ensured Taslima Nasrin’s stay in Kolkata”.
The Congress was quick to dissociate itself from Ali and termed the protest a “morbid manner of expression”.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee blamed the “irresponsible behaviour” of the AIMH leadership for the violence.
In New Delhi, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned in the post-lunch session after MPs raised the issue.
Commuters and schoolchildren ran for safety while in many schools the students had to stay back for hours without water. The resultant traffic snarls left a large portion of the city choked.
“The state government has asked for six columns of military to bring the situation under control. About 60 people have been arrested,” West Bengal Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy told reporters.
He said rioters also set ablaze two local offices of the CPI-M, one of them at Beniapukur, central Kolkata.
“We have heard that two party offices were attacked,” CPI-M leader Shymal Chakraborty told IANS.
The police said the violence spread like wildfire in all directions across the area, forcing deployment of the army.
Trouble started when the AIMF protest programme turned violent. Thousands of members of AIMF and some small Muslim organizations had gathered at crossings on major roads such as those leading to the Sealdah railway station and Park Circus as well as the A.J.C. Bose Road, Ripon Street and CIT Road.
The crowd went out of control when the police tried to stop them from gathering altogether. The protesters went on a rampage and started throwing stones, soda water bottles and other missiles at the policemen.
Deputy Commissioner (South Division) of Kolkata Police Jawed Shamim was amongst those injured in the violent face-off. “The DC (South) is injured but no one was injured seriously,” the home secretary said.
Opposition Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee appealed to all to maintain calm.
“I urge the people to maintain calm though this was not our programme. I also appeal to the police to be patient in tackling such situations. This is not a Hindu-Muslim riot,” she said.
“We strongly condemn this. How come (the) Taslima Nasrin (issue) became mixed up with Nandigram? This is highly irresponsible and violence to protest Nandigram violence is unacceptable,” filmmaker Aparna Sen said.
Noorul Rahman Barkati, Imam of the famous Tipu Sultan mosque in Kolkata: “All this has happened because of that woman (Nasrin) who is not one of us. She has come from Bangladesh, why should we tolerate her and allow law and order problem in our country.”