In clash-hit Rishra, locals point to similarity with Shibpur: poor police presence, inaction

Repeated calls and messages to Amit P Javalgi, Commissioner, Chandannagar police commissionerate, went unanswered.

On Sunday, Lok Sabha MP and BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, among other party leaders, tweeted a video and posted, “Stone pelting from Masjid towards Ram Navami rally at Rishra, Hooghly.”

That is a contention Maulana Muhammed Zakir Noori, imam of Rishra Jama Masjid, denied. He told The Indian Express: “No one from the mosque or its roof threw any stones. There were two policemen on the roof. Even the pile of bricks left for construction was covered with plastic and tied up with a rope days before, as directed by the administration.”

Monday saw huge police deployment in lanes and bylanes around the mosque, apart from Charbati and Sandhya Bazaar areas, where shops were ransacked on Sunday. Ransacked police vehicles also lay parked by the road. The crossings were deserted, with shops and business establishments closed since prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 was imposed, along with a ban on the internet.

“Nothing would have happened had there been this many policemen on Sunday evening,” said Muhammed Ershad, a local resident. “When violence broke out, the handful of police personnel present also ran away. After Howrah (Shibpur violence on Thursday), we all feared trouble. Were police not aware of what had happened in Howrah?”
Imam Noori said: “It is the administration’s responsibility to ensure peace. I plead with the administration to do its duty, and whichever religion they belong to, the culprits must be arrested. I have been the imam for 27 years but have never seen anything like what I saw on Sunday evening…”

Raju Singh, a resident of Baghkhal area, said, “What happened (in Rishra) was a copy of Shibpur. Police stood silent as the (Ram Navami) rally was attacked. Later they lathi-charged us. Why was the sensitive area around the mosque not cordoned off with strong police presence? Police intelligence also failed — some people from Hindu community living there were threatened even on Monday.”

At his home in Noga More, 2 km from the area where trouble occurred, Sanjit Yadav, convenor of Srirampore unit of Bajrang Dal, said: “Traditionally, the Ram Navami procession comes from 15 or so areas; they all converge on GT Road. It winds up on the ground beside Mahesh Rath Mandir. Since we had knowledge of the Shibpur incident, we feared this could happen. We followed all instructions from police. We cancelled our booking for a DJ and took only two sound boxes.”

Imam Noori said, “Some stones were thrown from outside and landed inside the mosque.”

Asfaq, a local resident said, “I saw people running helter-skelter…policemen deployed in the area were also running (away).” Both sides claimed that dozens were injured from either side.