E-Paper
Sikh turban row: Bengal home dept accuses BJP of communalising issue
The incident occurred during the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) march to Nabanna, the state secretariat. Videos of the jostling and the Sikh man’s clothes being pulled by policemen have since gone viral
The West Bengal home department on Sunday afternoon said that a certain political party was adding communal colour to the October 8 incident in Howrah, where a Sikh man’s turban came off ,when the police were trying to arrest him on charges of carrying a pistol.
The incident occurred during the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) march to Nabanna, the state secretariat. Videos of the jostling and the Sikh man’s clothes being pulled by policemen have since gone viral.
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh and several members of the Sikh community have raised their voice against the incident. They have said it was an insult to the Sikh community and the accused, Balvinder Singh.
The BJP has started a campaign on this issue.
“Our Sikh brothers and sisters live here in West Bengal in perfect peace and harmony, in happiness and tranquility, with respect from all of us for their faith and practices. A recent incident when one isolated individual got caught with one illegally carried firearm in an agitation that was not authorised and is now being twisted out of context, distorted and given communal colours in fractious and partisan interests,” tweeted the state home department.
“One political party is giving communal colour to the subject in narrow partisan interests in a manner that Bengal does not believe in. Policing was done as per law, but highest respect for the Sikh panth and ways from the state government is affirmed,” the tweet added.
Bengal BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said, “Tweets will not help. The nation has seen the videos. The police have hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community.”
Earlier, Ghosh had said that Singh is the bodyguard of a BJP youth front leader and works for a private security agency. He has a valid licence for the pistol, Ghosh had claimed.
However, police have found that the licence was issued in Kashmir and it is not valid in West Bengal.
“The Sikh community has been insulted. We saw in the videos that the man was isolated from the rest of the people and dragged along the ground. The turban did not fall off by accident,” Union minister of state Babul Supriyo told a TV news channel. “From lawlessness to the arrest of al-Qaeda terrorists, there is every reason to impose President’s rule in Bengal,’’ he said.
Saugata Ray, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha member and a party spokesperson, said, “Babul Supriyo is new to politics. He has not studied the Constitution. Before enforcing Article 356, an advisory has to be issued under Article 355. That has not been done.”
The October 8 incident has triggered an uproar.
“Please look into this matter @MamataOfficial this isn’t done,” former Indjan cricketer Singh had tweeted on Friday evening, tagging Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. He had also posted tweets and news video clippings tweeted by BJP’s Delhi unit secretary Impreet Singh Bakshi.
The same tweets and videos were also shared by BJP national secretary Arvind Menon and other party leaders. “In Bengal, is there no respect for people from other religious faiths except for a specific one?” tweeted Menon.
Members of the Sikh community have also staged two protests in Kolkata.
The agitation was marked by “unprovoked” baton charge and use of tear gas by the police that left 1,500 people injured, the BJP has alleged.
At least 24 BJP leaders, including the party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and Menon, have been booked for violating the Central government’s guidelines on gatherings and political rallies owing to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.
The agitation was organised by the party’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). It was marked by pitched battles between the police and the party workers in parts of Kolkata and Howrah, where Nabanna is located.
The BJP leaders were also charged for destroying public properties and violating prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
