Islamists stop Krishna arati in Deganga

What’s next?

How is Deganga at the moment?  This single question does perturb individuals at times and there are, indeed, enough reasons behind it. It was the month of September, 2010 when the name of Deganga rocked the Indian scenario – witnessing the worst form of persecutions on Hindus by Islamists. And even after deployment of security forces by the then Bengal government to quell such ominous developments, nothing fruitful did happen. Nevertheless, after lots of hues and cries then the ominous situation for Hindus there did improve but it has never been stable thus far. And the recent harrowing experiences of Hindus depict once more that nothing has changed in Deganga.

To be precise, soiree musicale of Islamists, every year, becomes a source of trouble for Hindus in Deganga. The rendezvous takes place in Deganga market altogether and hence, daily rituals (like arati) in the local Radha Krishna temple (located in the area where soiree takes place) are brought to an end by Islamists forcefully. Now, to steer clear of any such incident this year (soiree musicale happening on March 19 and 20), Hindus appealed to the local police station weeks ago to adopt apposite measures to end any form of animosity. Similar letters were submitted to various echelons of administration in addition.   

The local police, hence, convened a meeting with Hindu and Muslim representatives on March 18, 2012 in the evening and there was a decision already that 4 Hindus and 2 Muslims would take part in it. But when Hindus went to the police station a large gathering of Muslims was perceived there. Being questioned, the Officer-in-Charge assured that 2 Muslims would participate. But to the utter dismay of Officer-in-Charge, 8 Muslims participated in it. It was decided there that Hindus would do arati in the Radha Krishna temple between 6.00 and 6.40 pm on the next two days. Muslims, present in the meeting, affirmed maintenance of the same diktat.   

But all hopes of Hindus got smashed at 6.25 pm, March 19, 2012, when Islamists forcefully stopped the arati. Being questioned, they replied that any such act was blasphemous for their faith. And what followed next was the blatant use of foul languages against Hindus.

Hindus, next, went to the police station to lodge a formal complaint against this. When the official complaint was being written, hundreds of Muslims gheraoed the police station and some of them entered OC’s chamber vehemently even. The OC turned out to be helpless and through a personal talking, he asked Hindus earnestly to alter the time of arati to the early evening – between 4 – 5 pm. Nevertheless, he didn’t forget to give verbal assurance that a definite process would be found out soon to solve such crises permanently.

On Tuesday the arati took place between 4 to 5 pm.

But the verbal assurance of OC is leading to skepticism only and this is not unfounded at all.  What can an OC do, especially, when the administration proves to be helpless?

Is Deganga in Bengal, India still or whether it is a free area in the global map?