By Sujoy Dhar, IANS
Kolkata : Flaming vehicles, children scampering in fear and raging crowds roaming the streets attacking police with bricks and soda water bottles. How did fabled poetry-loving Kolkata degenerate to riots more reminiscent of cities like Ramallah, people asked themselves Thursday but came up with few answers.
A directionless protest that found a volatile mix in atrocities in Nandigram and the extended stay of Bangladeshi writer Taslim Nasreen turned central Kolkata into a battle zone Wednesday in scenes straight from a strife-torn West Asian city.
There were lots of theories but no real answers about how and when things spun so out of control that the army had to be called in as youth living peacefully in rundown Muslim ghettos of central Kolkata surfaced in frenzied rage.
For the world outside, Kolkata had for the last few years been a story of upcoming townships, flyovers, swanky shopping malls, forays into the IT sector or the communists’ ideological somersault.
But Wednesday was different and even Idris Ali, the man whose nondescript All India Minority Forum (AIMF) is held responsible for the sordid episode, said he was nonplussed.
“Trust me I have no idea how it spun out of control. But the immediate trigger could be the suppressed anger of the Muslims against Nasreen’s stay in Kolkata,” Ali told IANS after he was pilloried for the flare-up.
“We had assembled peacefully at around 9 a.m. at the Park Circus seven-point crossing. We wanted to block the road in protest against Nasreen who has defiled the Prophet and hurt the sentiments of about 2.5 million Muslims living in West Bengal,” said Ali.
“We were only about 60 in number,” said Ali, known to journalists for years as a small-time Congress leader who would call up every evening to publicise programmes backed by him and his AIMF.
According to Ali, police refused them permission to block the road and arrested the AIMF activists at 9.40 a.m. “Soon the news spread and I think Muslims in the area were so angry on the Taslima issue and the dillydallying of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government that they spontaneously led a people’s agitation.”
He added, however, that he wasn’t sure. “There can be something else behind it as well.”
Park Circus, the area where it all began and a two km radius around it, is a jarring split image of wide avenues, some of the best English schools in the city and the grimy quarters where the huge Muslim population lives in poverty and filth.
This part of central Kolkata represents a rich mosaic of cosmopolitanism though it is also known for notorious criminal bases.
“What I saw was unbelievable. I saw a peaceful assembly first and then some youths came out of the meeting and started abusing all. Then they went about ransacking shops, looting and hurling abuses at whom no one knows,” said a resident of Padmapukur on CIT Road, one of the worst affected areas.
“All I can say is that there was no provocation from police as they tried to deal with the situation with utmost restraint,” he said, adding that he saw youths targeting shops and looting could have been a reason for starting the riot.
Deputy Commissioner (South) Jawed Shamim, who was injured while tackling the mob, said: “There was no provocation from us. We were busy with our law and order duty and then it all happened. I cannot say what is the trigger behind it.”
According to one resident of the area, however, a prominent Muslim leader had held a meeting in the area a week back and incited people.
“During the meeting the shops were closed and the youths were present,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Besides AIMF, the other organisations in the protest were the Jamait Ulema-i-Hind and Furfura Sarif Muzadeedia Anath Foundation.
The role of Jamait leader Siddiquallah Chowdhury in the Singur and Nandigram flare-ups has been widely discussed. He has admitted to helping organise the Muslim youths Wednesday.
“It is a warning for the (ruling) Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). The party would feel the heat soon and lose its Muslim base,” Chowdhury said.
But Ali said he had no idea about the presence of the Jamait.
While Kolkata introspects for an answer on what went wrong Wednesday, the events are portents of a gathering storm that the ruling communists need to take note of – and take preventive action.