Durga Puja Boycotted in Deganga --- WHY?

Why Are Bengalis Unable to Perform Durga Puja Festival?

Starting Monday, 6th September, 2010, Hindus have suffered relentless persecution with regards to accessing the road leading to Chattal co-operative society temple in Deganga. Hindu temples, homes as well as shops owned by Hindus were ransacked. Directly lead by Member of Parliament, Mr. Haji Nurul Islam, several Hindu Deities were broken, treasury box looted and the temple desecrated in many ways. Taking advantage of the prevailing situation, the miscreants illegally put up a loudspeaker over Deganga mosque on the 6th of September. Households owned by Hindus were selected and put of fire in addition to abusing individual women of the same homes. Fearing for their lives, residents from approximately 8 villages started to flee. Taking advantage of the failure of local administration, local Muslims partook into this persecution while the police and paramilitary forces stood like wooden dolls. Realizing well that law enforcement agencies the police do not have permission to lathi-charge during the holy month of Ramzan, the Muslims engaged in uncontrolled violence. Finding an opportunity, the mob even brutalized some members of the police. Fear prevailed among the local Hindu community after these cases of temple desecration, destruction of shops and household and they have completely lost faith in the district administration.

Given this situation, members of various clubs in Deganga block got together in a meeting and unanimously resolved to present a list of demands on behalf of the Hindus to the police offers of Deganga police station. Subsequently, the list of demands was presented to the police and they asked for 3 days to resolve the issue. However, even after the passage of 10-12 days, the administration did not fulfill their assurance. Left with no other alternatives, residents of Deganga block have decided to stop all Durga festivities in the area.

We are well aware that many will argue for and against this decision. Various explanations will be put forward that stopping the Durga puja will encourage the anti-Hindu elements, or that the Hindu women and children will be denied the opportunity to enjoy the Puja festivities. The administration and various political brothers and sisters will make all attempts to break this unity because none of the groups want the Hindus to become united.

Given the unfolding situation where Hindus are coming under attack day after day, will the Hindus will be able to perform festivals in the future? Will we be able to uphold the honour of the women, protect our hard-earned property and home? Unless we are united even now? We believe that the recent attack on the Hindus of Chattal Pally as an attack on the entire Hindu society. Hence by stopping the Durga festival we exhibit the unity among the Hindu society and request the administration as well as the pseudo-secular parties to restrain themselves from engaging in playing around with the sentiments of the Hindu society. The Hindus society knows how to get united and protest in unison.

.

We petitioned the local administration with the following demands :-

1. Arrest of all the criminals and subsequent prosecution under appropriate penal charges.

2. Appropriate compensation be given to all the victims immediately.

3. The loudspeaker must be brought down from the Deganga mosque and appropriate steps be taken to ensure that the same is not put back in the future.

4. False charges of firing bullets pressed against/by Bacchu Karmakar of Beliaghata are withdrawn.

5. The 60 feet path leading to the temple of Chattal Pally that has been used for over 50 years must not be dug.

6. In three days from 6th September, 2010 to 8th September, 2010 the miscreants engaged in looting, property destruction, beating innocent Hindus, arson, desecration of Deites as well as ravishing the honour of women belonging to several villages of Deganga in broad daylight. The police kept saying that they are not authorized to lathi-charge on the Muslims during the month of Ramzan. The administration must clearly disclose under whose orders the police could not even lathi-charge the miscreants and proper penal action must be initiated against them.

The above is a translation of the flier (Degangay Bangalir Mahotsab DurgaPuja Bondho Keno ?) created by the Deganga Puja Samanvay Committee before Durga Puja 2010. It can be accessed at :

.

http://www.hindusamhati.org/deganga_puja_boycott.pdf

Deganga Intifada?

Richard Benkin

For three days in September, anti-Hindu violence wracked the Deganga area in North 24 Parganas, only 40 kilometers from the West Bengal capital of Kolkata. Though the violence has subsided, Hindu residents fear renewed attacks, which could have been the attackers’ intention all along. West Bengal BJP member Tathagata Roy visited the area twice since the violence began and noted, “What struck me about the pogrom (not riot, because no Hindu hit a Muslim) is that no Hindu was physically hurt, and no Hindu woman was molested, a regular feature in all Muslim attacks. But destruction of property and threats were both rampant.” From that Roy concludes that “this was a well-thought-out, well-executed pogrom whose objective was to terrorize the Hindus no end without committing any major crime beyond arson. The ultimate intention can only be to cleanse the area of Hindus with a view to totally Islamize the area.” That the matter is now fodder for political bickering instead of effective counter action only furthers the attackers’ objectives.

Bimal Pramanik, Director of the Kolkata-based Centre for Research in Indo-Bangladesh Relations, has noted a steady and deliberate effort to change Hindu-Muslim demographics in West Bengal. Since the emergence of Bangladesh (East Bengal) as an independent nation in 1971, Hindus in that country have fallen from a little less than one in five to between seven and eight percent today. At the same time, the Muslim proportion of West Bengal’s population has risen by 25 percent compared to an almost nine percent decline in the proportion of its Hindu population. Between 1981 and 1991, moreover, Muslim population growth in West Bengal was nearly 35 percent compared to only 25 percent in Bangladesh. “How can there be such a wide difference in growth rates between the two countries?” Pramanik asked South Asia Forum’s Amitabh Tripathi and me in his Kolkata office. His conclusion: “Illegal immigration from across the border.”

The current political infighting is reminiscent of similar wrangling in the United States. America reacted to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks by radical Muslims with a wave of patriotism and unity, bringing with it a collective will to defeat those who attacked America. Over time, however, the initial fervor died down and the same sort of political bickering now taking place in India replaced it. Democrats blamed the attacks on Republican President George Bush; Republicans blamed his Democrat predecessor, President Bill Clinton. That the widely praised “9/11 Commission” found largely equal fault with both did not stop the charges and counter charges. As a result, support for resolutely fighting the Islamists has been plagued by disunity and political jockeying; which also muddies the signal Americans get about their enemies and their intention. Is this happening in India?

Almost 2000 years ago, ancient Israel was at war with its Roman occupiers. With most of the country in enemy hands and Roman legions approaching the gates of the Hebrew capital, Jerusalem; defenders holed up in the Jewish Temple, located on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. But instead of forming a united front against the enemy, they fell into three factions and spent more time attacking one another than the Romans. When they eventually united, it was too late and Jerusalem fell. The Jewish state was destroyed, not to be re-established until 1948. Is this happening in India?

While the victims of yesterday and today expend their resources fighting one another, their Islamist enemies proceed in a united, strategic, and resolute manner. The Deganga pogrom makes sense when viewed in parallel with another planned, jihadist event with similar goals: the 2000 Palestinian intifada. It also helps to note that Muslims today are given a free pass to express their individual or collective anger however they wish. If Hindus do it, they are Hindu fanatics; Jews, Zionist oppressors; Christians, Islamaphobic. If any of these groups attack Muslims, it is their fault. If Muslims attack them, it is still their fault. Arab terror attacks on Israel murdered over 1000 Israelis in the first few years of this century but were justified as anger over the so-called occupation. The September 11th attacks on the United States were deemed expressions of Muslim anger for which Americans must atone. When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad recently accused the United States of being the real 9/11 killers, many at the UN applauded enthusiastically. Finally, virtually every international body and media outlet has determined that the 26/11 terror in Mumbai is insufficient cause to bring anyone to justice. As American author and analyst Michelle Malkin wrote, “The eternal flame of Muslim outrage was lit a long, long time ago.” Woe to any people it burns because the world’s elites will blame them for it. The pattern is tediously familiar.

	Deganga Pogrom	Arab Intifada
The Pretext	Hindus stopped Muslim activists from tunneling between the Deganga Mosque and a nearby Hindu Temple.	Then private citizen Ariel Sharon visited Jerusalem’s Temple Mount
Background	As the area's Muslim population has grown, they have tried to stop Durga Puja there and claim the land for their Mosque	Although it is the site of Judaism's ancient temple, Muslims claim that the Temple did not exist and that the Mount is a Holy site for Muslims only
What happened	Angry Muslims gathered together in the Mosque after Iftar (giving it religious significance) and began attacking Hindus, their Temples, shops and homes. When troops arrived to restore the calm, they moved against defenseless Hindu villages in the interior	Angry Muslims gathered on the temple Mount by Al Asqa Mosque (giving it religious significance) and began attacking Jewish worshippers below. When troops responded to restore calm, they attacked on Israel by Suicide bombings and other terror.
Government	While it stopped the violence immediately, it has not made any arrests, defended Hindu religious sentiments or defined the actions or claims as illegitimate.	While it defeated uprising, it allowed the enemy's claims to be given legitimacy. It has not pressed the case for Jewish rights and even released arrested terrorists as 'goodwill gestures'
Media	Events have been under reported domestically and blacked out internationally. No media has discussed about rights of the Hindu Victims.	Media took the case of Muslim attackers as a cause celebre and did mentioned the rights of the Jewish victims.
Media Result	The Muslim attackers and their instigators see that they can attack Hindus in India without consequences. Their claim to Hindu lands remains active and stronger, and they can press it further.	Arab claims to Jewish land are seen as more legitimate than before the terror, i.e. terror works. Their false claim that the ancient Jewish temples did not exist and that Jews have no title to the temple Mount remains and both are ongoing. Arab demands for a cessation of violence

The attackers and their backers frequently object that identifying the pogromists as Muslim and the victims as Hindu violates principles of secularism and unfairly smears an entire faith. To the extent that religion should not be an important issue, they are correct. But to the extent that the attackers have made religion important, it needs to be identified. As noted above, there was a deliberate effort to give the Deganga and Palestinian violence a religious overtone. It was also on full view in 2004 when Yassir Arafat personally apologized to the father of a 20 year old murdered in a terror attack as a case of “mistaken identity.” The terrorists were gunning for Jews, and the victim was Christian. In 2006, there were deadly riots worldwide over cartoons that depicted the prophet Mohammed. The rioters were not Hindus, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, or anyone else—but Muslims who called the cartoons blasphemous; that is, Muslims, not Jews or Hindus, have made this a religious fight. More frightening, the rioters were not Al Qaeda; neither were the Deganga pogromists. They were just Muslims. Draw what conclusions you may, but the religious component injected by Muslims is a fact.

The Deganga riots might appear to be a blip on the radar screen of life in India; but they are far more than that. The violence and the decades-long demographic change speak of a deliberate effort to reduce India piece by piece, no less so than Islamist effort to do the same to Israel. If India does not awaken soon, they might find that the international elites have defined Bengal in the same way they have Kashmir.

http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=3599

Deganga’s Hindus Betrayed

October 19, 2010

Kanchan Gupta

There was a time, not that many decades ago, when Hindu grief in one part of the country would not go unnoticed in its other parts. And so it was that Hindus across north and central India, as it existed before the demise of British colonial rule a year later, observed a ‘black’ Diwali in the autumn of 1946 to commiserate with their co-religionists of Noakhali in Bengal. The infamous Noakhali riots, which erupted on October 10 even before the last corpse had been removed from the bustees of Calcutta which had burned for days following Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s call for ‘Direct Action’ on August 16, witnessed what Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was to later describe as a call to Hindus to leave or perish in the “flames of fanaticism”. If Direct Action Day led to the ‘Great Calcutta Killing’, the “organised fury of the Muslim mob” — as an enraged member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly rudely but pithily put it — was unsparing in Noakhali. Hindu homes were set on fire, Hindu women were raped and girls abducted, Hindu men were murdered. It was this unrestrained butchery and the Hindu grief in its wake that moved a million Hindu hearts in central and north India and the diyas remained unlit that Diwali.

Six-and-a-half decades later, Hindus, it would seem, are no longer moved by the plight of Hindus. The pseudo-secularism aggressively peddled by political parties of all shades — even the BJP has begun to subscribe to the bunkum made fashionable by the Left-liberal intelligentsia in the hope of ridding itself of its ‘communal’ (read Hindu) tag — and the divisive politics of caste identity have made Hindus inure to the plight and sorrow of fellow Hindus. Nothing else explains the indifference of Hindus towards their hapless co-religionists in Deganga who, after suffering the “organised fury of the Muslim mob”, led by Trinamool Congress MP Haji Nurul Islam, have been virtually abandoned by both community and state to their fate. Starting September 6, Haji Nurul Islam and his thugs, who met with resistance when they tried to demolish the main Durga Mandap that has existed for long, ran riot in Deganga block of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, a short distance from Calcutta. Hindu homes were ransacked, Hindu shops were set on fire, Hindu temples were desecrated. All this happened while the district administration and the police twiddled their thumbs. In West Bengal, the Marxists are loath to take on the mullahs; for the Trinamool Congress, the mullahs are powerful allies in Ms Mamata Banerjee’s quest for power at any price.

Humiliated and simmering with rage, abandoned and forsaken by their own in West Bengal and elsewhere, the grieving Hindus of Deganga decided not to celebrate Durga Puja, the most important festival in the Bengali Hindu calendar, this year. The Durga Mandaps in Deganga wore a deserted look, the joyous sound of dhaak, the traditional drum, was not heard, and an overwhelming sense of mourning prevailed. Fear played spoil sport, too: If the September riots were any indication, Muslim belligerence was not to be taken lightly. Meanwhile, in a demonstration of crude triumphalism, Haji Nurul Islam and his goons, with the full support and blessings of the Trinamool Congress, have built and inaugurated a new mosque right in the middle of Deganga market. The high-volume and high-pitched azaan is more a taunt to the Hindus than a call to prayers for the faithful.

The ghetto now rules Deganga. The Hindus, reduced to an awful minority by Muslim ‘settlers’ who entered West Bengal illegally and settled in Deganga as ‘citizens’ after being provided with ration cards by the local committee of the CPI(M) that facilitated the inclusion of their names in the voters list, can only grieve over their persecution today. Ironically, the Hindus voted en bloc for the Left, as did the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants-turned-Indian citizens. Then the demography changed radically; the pampered minority became the oppressive majority. That coincided with the waning of the Left Front and the waxing of the Trinamool Congress which, mindful of numbers, chose Muslims over Hindus in Deganga and strengthened its hold by patronising the likes of Haji Nurul Islam. When Ms Mamata Banerjee went around ‘inaugurating’ Durga Puja at various pandals in Hindu majority constituencies of Kolkata this year, she did not spare a thought for the Hindus of Deganga; she need not have because their votes do not matter. That’s the power of demographic change, forced and natural.

Nor does the Left Front, especially the CPI(M), care about the Hindus of Deganga. The Marxists believe survival depends not on alienating the mullahs but pandering to them. Hence the recently announced communal quota; hence, too, the West Bengal Government shamelessly looking the other way as students of a tax-payer funded Islamic ‘university’ — really an over-glorified madarsa — in Kolkata force their women teachers to wear the burqa on campus. Then there is the media which has blacked out the plight of Hindus in Deganga, striking an ideological posture with which we are all too familiar. But it is not Left-liberalism that has kept Deganga out of the columns of newspapers and prime time bulletins of 24x7 news channels: It is the fear of incurring the wrath of both Ms Mamata Banerjee and her Marxist foes. The tragedy that has befallen the Hindus of Deganga is similar to the stuff that once made Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’ a popular inclusion in Sunday papers.

Postscript: I have received the following e-mail from Hindu Samhati, the only organisation which has been trying to draw the attention of media and authorities to the fear that reigns in Deganga, admittedly without any success so far:

“Minor Hindu girl abducted by Muslim youth in Deganga in broad daylight on October 1.

Victim — Sangita Mandal; age 17 years, four months. Class 12 student. Daughter of Sukumar Mandal. Address: Village Purba Changdana, PS Deganga.

Kidnapper — Naharul Islam; age 22. Son of Abdul Rahim. Address: Village Doharia.

Sangita was abducted in a Maruti Omni van at Ambika Nagar in front of Polytechnic College.”

In a similar case of abduction and forced nikah when the mother of the minor girl appealed for justice to a division bench of Calcutta High Court earlier this year, the honourable judges of secular India’s secular justice system had cited sharia’h to legitimise the ‘marriage’, insisting that the age of the girl was inconsequential. We live in depressing times.

-- Follow the writer on: http://twitter.com/KanchanGupta. Blog on this and other issues at http://kanchangupta.blogspot.com. Write to him at kanchangupta@rocketmail.com

The Lessons from Deganga

Prasun Maitra

The innocent Hindus of Deganga witnessed the barbaric face of Muslim fundamentalism. The so called ‘religion of peace’ revealed its true face there and the administration failed to provide any protection to Hindus and preferred to bow down in front of Islamic terror.

The most of the people of Deganga had migrated from Muslim dominated East Bengal to Hindu dominated India leaving behind their paternal property there in order to save their cultural dignity which was under tremendous threat in East Bengal. They preferred to live a refugee’s life in India rather to sacrifice their ethnicity while living in an Islamic country. They presumed that in this secular country, they would be protected and the State would ensure that their right of performing religious ceremonies was not violated. Even in the worst dream, they could hardly see that their cultural identity, for which they were forced to leave their paternal property, is also under tremendous threat even in this Hindu dominated country.

On 6^th September, 2010 Hindus were made realized that Deganga is no better than East Bengal where their ethnicity was under threat. It started when they were preparing to build a pandal (temporary structure) for ensuing Durga Puja on a land which was a devottar (dedicated to God) property for decades. The local Muslims objected to the construction as idol worshipping is prohibited in Islam. Innocent Hindus failed to realize how on a secular country they could be barred to perform their most cherished religious ceremony! They approached the local police station. Alas, they did not realize that during the 34 years regime of C.P.I.(M), the police has become so spineless that they don’t even change their inner wears without the order of the local party office. So, it was inevitable that police held their hands up and advised the Hindus to co-operate with Muslims to maintain communal harmony in the locality.

Once assured that administration would not do anything against Muslims, the local Trina Mool Congress MP, Hazi Nurul Islam took the great burden of educating the kaffirs on his shoulder and along with the local Muslims started Islamic vandalism. Hindus were beaten, women were molested, shops owned by Hindus were looted, their houses were set on fire and all this happened in front of police who refused to initiate any action against the miscreants to restore peace as it was a Ramzaan month. Hindus went from pillar to post but nothing happened. At last, the helpless Hindus were left with no choice but to run away to save their lives leaving behind their unsecured property and land. And this is what the Muslims wanted. So, they increased the intensity of their attack. The whole Deganga would become void of Hindus had that barbarism were let to continue for a few more hours. But the members of the Hindu Samhati were very prompt to read the game plan of the Muslims and in no time they started an awareness campaign all over the world through internet describing the atrocities on Hindus in Deganga and administrative inaction to restore normalcy. Members of the Hindu Samhati, led by its President Shri Tapan Kumar Ghosh, created huge pressure on the administration for ensuring protection for Hindus. Hindus all over the world also extended their support and expressed their solidarity with the Hindus in Deganga. Finally, the administration had to bow down to the enormous pressure and decided to deploy military in Deganga and the situation was somewhat brought under control.

The incident at Deganga is a clear proof of Muslim aggressiveness and fanaticism. History says that once a portion of India has become Muslim dominated, it demanded separate land for them. With more than 70% Muslim population, Deganga can not be an exception. And the single factor let this kind of audacious attitude grow in Muslims is the appeasement by both C.P.I (M) and T.M.C. Once, a Rizwanur commits a suicide due to his personal reasons, Mamata Banerjee goes to Espalanade to lit a candle accompanied by her bunch of sycophants but in Deganga, where a preplanned ethnic cleansing is at full force, she never passes any comment criticizing that. In Canning, after a clash between two groups of Muslims, she sends her emissary, and that too of the status of the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, to enquire about the condition of Khadija Bibi or Rabeya Bibi but Mamata didn’t utter a single word against Muslims when they broke down the temple of Pagla Baba at Haringhata, Nadia. Even media and intellectuals are also not spared by this politics of appeasement. To ensure that the attacks by Muslims on Hindus in Deganga does not get a wide publicity, all the vernacular media voluntarily imposed censorship on them.

In order to protest the appeasement of Muslims in the name of secularism, the entire Hindus of Deganga block has unanimously decided not to celebrate Durga Puja in the whole Deganga block. The shameless administration is least bothered to realize how pathetic and disheartening it was for Hindus to decide not to celebrate their greatest festival, their only aim is to save their face so that nobody from outside can see their appeasement of Muslims. To unsettle the decision of the Hindu community, local police, administration and political parties have come together. At first, they threatened Hindus and later approached with folded hands to ensure the Puja is celebrated. But Hindus had already had their back on the wall. So, they refused to organize puja until punitive action is taken against the perpetrators, including local TMC Member of Parliament Hazi Nurul Islam, of the 6^th September and administration commits upon the safety & security of Hindus and their property even after passing of Durga Puja. The point is to be noted that though the said MP is from the opposition side, the Ruling party is unable to initiate any criminal action against him only because he belongs to Muslim community.

My friend, don’t you think that today in West Bengal we are living at the mercy of Muslims? Is it what is called secularism? Have we become so weak that we will allow political parties to use ourselves for the sake of their political gains? Our houses will be looted, women will be molested, our culture will be dishonored and still we will not utter a single word against the miscreants only to establish our so called secular nature? Sorry friend, I am not that much generous. Remember, Deganga is not an exception. It’s a sequence of Dhantala, Beldanga, Sandeshkhali..where Muslim aggressiveness had already shown its teeth & nail. If you still prefer to live in a utopia of Hindu-Muslim harmony, tomorrow all the villages of West Bengal will become a Deganga. So, wake up and resist the evil. Today, a fire has been set on your neighbor house, if you stay reluctant and don’t try to control the fire tomorrow it’ll lead to your house and then you will be left out with no neighbor to assist you to control the fire.

Atrocities on Hindus at Deganga Riot 2010: Countdown Begins in Bengal

Debabrata Mandal

6^th, 7^th and 8^th September, 2010 are the three black days in the past fifty years long history of West Bengal. Organized Muslim gangs committed Brutal atrocities on Hindu community in these three days over an area adjacent to Deganga, Kartikpur and Beliaghata markets, located at the east of Barasat district town. State administration totally failed to protect the honour and property of the Hindus and Army had to be deployed in this area.

Seventy percent of the Hindu populations of this area are refugees driven out by the Muslims in neighbouring Bangladesh. There is a small locality named Chattal Palli in the west of Deganga police station. The people living here are all came from Chittagong of Bangladesh and they have been celebrating Durga Puja for forty years in this locality. A two acre plot of land separates the place from the nearby highway. Few years back, Muslims built a graveyard illegally at the left side of the plot. The plot, which was occupied by the west Bengal government later, was once owned by Rani Rasmani. There is a 60 ft wide road at the right side of the plot which connects Chattal Palli to the highway and thousands of people who come to see the Durga Puja every year use this road as a passage.

A substantial chunk of local Muslim population of the area wants to raise a wall around the plot to isolate the residents of Chattal Palli, which, If they succeed to do, an unforgivable work like idolatry can be stopped forever in the area and the Hindus can be made refugees again. On 15^th September, 2010, the correspondents of All India Refugee Front noted that more than a thousand Muslims gathered on 6^th September and started digging the plot to build the foundation of the wall bordering the road. When Hindus objected, they called their names with obscene languages and beat one Amal Kar severely. Suddenly Haji Nurul Islam, the MP from Basirhat appeared there with a local Trinamul Congress leader, Ms. Ratna Roychoudhary. After taking note of the complaints from both sides, Haji went to the Deganga police station with some of his cadre. Then after a closed door meeting with the police officers, he headed for the nearby Jamma Masjid and ordered to set up a big permanent mike on the top of the Mosque. It ought to be noted here that before the last election Haji promised to the Muslims that if he won the election he would hand over the controversial plot to the Muslims and set up a permanent mike on the mosque. It ought to be noted too that a case was already filed in Calcutta High Court regarding the controversial plot and high court ruled against installing mike on the above mentioned mosque.

The next manoeuvre of Haji was still shrouded in Mystery. A lot of people complained that he stayed in the police station with Ratna Devi. At nearly 5 PM after the Ifter, about two thousand Muslim hooligans attacked the Hindus with bombs, pistols, spears, swords and acid bulbs. The police was called on, but nobody in the police station bothered to pick up the phone.

The correspondents of Hindu Samhati interviewed more than fifty persons at the market areas of Deganga and Kartikpur and the villages like Kejuridanga and Beliaghata; to name a few, Khokon Choudhary and five others from Chattal Palli, Uttam Saha, Gopal Mondal, Arun Sadukha, Kanailal Gupta, Sajal Sarpuria, Sajal Krishna Das, Kajal Das and many others from Deganga. The shop of Bimal Ghosh in Kartikpur market was completely demolished, but the next shop rented from him by a Muslim was not even touched. The shop named Mahima Bastralaya owned by a Muslim in the market remained unaffected. On 7^th morning RAF was stationed there. In spite of that the situation got worsened. The Hooligans burned four cars worth of one crore rupees in front of RAF personnel. The skeletons of those cars are still left beside the Deganga polica station. A Kali temple in Kartikpur was attacked, the idol of Goddess Kali was broken and the hooligans urinated inside the temple in broad daylight. On 8^th September four houses were burnt at KejuriDanga, just 1 km away from Kartikpur. The owners of those houses were Sudharani Ghosh, Nepal Ghosh, Badal Ghosh and Harendranath Bakshi. All the atrocities were committed at the time when RAF and army were marching on the highway. On the very day at 11 am a police jeep came at the house of Harendra Bakshi. The Muslim hooligans dragged the police constables, started beating them severely and pushed the car into the pond. The eight members of Bakshi family had to run away and seek shelter in a nearby Muslim locality where they were refused. Then a Hindu family in nearby Daspara gave them shelter. Till the time the houses of Bakshi and Ghosh families were completely gutted. The hooligans burnt a house of a Muslim man named Sadat Ali by mistake. Her wife accepted the fact unhesitatingly to the correspondents of Hindu Samhati.

After Kartikpur, our correspondents arrived at Beliaghata. Here the house of Bahccu Karmakar and 12/13 our houses nearby were burnt. Every strong and large gates were broken by hurling bombs. Bahccu Karmakar who runs a successful goldsmith business is the most affected person in terns of money. According to the account of an eyewitness, on 7^th morning, when the mob was pelting stones to the RAF personnel, one Muslim man named Sahabuddin died at the firing of RAF. But the hooligans spread the rumour that Bahccu Karmakar shot the guy dead. The house of Bahccu Karmakar was gutted and his gold shop was looted at this false charge. Only the skeletons of the house are now left. Fortunately Bachccubabu was able to escape with his daughter and wife.

Another victim of the violence was a 75 year old gentleman, Biswanath Ghosh. The hooligans jostled him on his face and beat his son indiscriminately. The ornaments of the women were snatched and all the rooms of their house were burnt. The estimate of their loss is approximately Rs 5 lakh.

Friends, the sequence of events made it clear that the brutal atrocities in these three days are the result of cruel and far-reaching communal game plan against Hindu community. After the communal attack, all the Hindu clubs and organizations held a meeting and a charter was submitted with specific demands of the Hindu people of the area. The police assured us to take action within three days. But even 12 days were passed; police did not fulfill their assurance. The seven members of Hindu Samhati who were held in Dum Dum central jail are still denied bell. Under the circumstances, all Hindus of Deganga unequivocally decided not to celebrate Durga Puja in the entire Deganga block.

We know that a lot of debate will arise for and against this decision. The administration and the leaders irrespective of political colours will put their all effort to break our Hindu unity. Because no political party wants Hindus to be united. but on behalf of the Hindus of Deganga as well as the whole Bengali Hindu society, we need to raise a question, that the way Hindus are increasing being attacked and hounded out day by day, can we be able to celebrate our festivals, can we save the honour of our women, our houses and our business in the foreseeable future? Or do we have to be refugee again in our own country?

Press Release - No Durga Puja in DeGanga - Protest Rally

DEGANGA PUJA SAMANVAY COMMITTEE ORGANIZED A MASSIVE RALLY TO PROTEST


On 3rd October, 2010, the Deganga Durga Puja Samanvay Committee organized a massive protest rally against the local administration and corrupt TMC political leaders and named this rally as “DHIKKAR” (Shame).


In the morning of 3rd October, the day of the rally, under the leadership of Puja Samanvay Committee Secretary Mr.Prasanta Pal, local Hindus gathered at the Chattal Pally Durga Puja pandal and about 11 AM, more than 500 local Hindus from all neighboring villages, joined this DHIKKAR Rally either on foot, Bicycles, Motor Bikes or on Auto Rickshaw. The protest mainly focused on the inability of the local Police to protect local Hindu residents from barbaric organized attacks by the Muslims, which started when the Muslims deliberately wanted to stop the 40 year old Chattal Pally Durga Puja. The 3 hours rally proceeded further to Belighata, Berachapa and went up to Hamadama Bazar, a total 13 km route greeted by hundreds of local Hindus standing the road side supported with clapping and joined with the slogans that was reverberating through a loud speaker. The slogans goes like- “Haji Nurul Isalm Jabab Dao Jabab Dao - why such barbaric attacks on the innocent Hindus”/-and "Local Administration Jabab Dao Jabab Dao - why there was no police protection of the Hindus; why Hindu homes and businesses are burnt down”; Local Police Jabab Dao Jabab Dao - why Police allowed loud speaker on the Masjid"; "Why SP /Police violate the agreement and allow Muslims to put the Loudspeaker Jabab Dao Jabab Dao, etc.


With the huge success of this DHIKKAR Rally, the Samanvay Committee is planning to organizing another much bigger rally on coming Sunday, i.e, 10th October, at Deganga.

PICTURES - No Durga Puja in DeGanga - Protest Rally