No communal tension in Bengal, says Mamata days after Malda violence

Banerjee, who was speaking at Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata, said unity in diversity is the mantra of the TMC regime

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday said there is no communal tension in the state. Banerjee, who was speaking at Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata, said unity in diversity is the mantra of the TMC regime.

Vehicles set on fire after clashes between two groups at Kaliachak police station in Malda on Sunday (PTI)

She also claimed that Maoist violence has come down in West Bengal.

“Even the people residing in the hills are smiling. There is no tension,” she said.

Mamata’s comments comes five days after one lakh protesters went on the rampage in a town called Kaliachak in West Bengal, setting fire to a police station and damaging vehicles.

On Sunday, over a lakh protesters gathered for a rally called by a little-known Muslim organization Idara-e-Shariya against a right-wing activist’s alleged hate speech in Uttar Pradesh. The minority group was protesting against Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari, saying his speech had derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed. Kamlesh Tiwari had called Prophet Muhammad the first homosexual in the world.

Violence broke out in the Malda district when the protesters came across a North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) bus trying to cross the rally.

Accusing the state government of shielding those behind the violence, BJP’s Rahul Sinha on Thursday alleged that the Kaliachak police station was set on fire to destroy criminal records and pointed out that prime suspects have not been arrested. The Communist Party of India-Marxist also criticised the government for “failing to control communal incidents”.