Kolkata, June 12 (IANS) Tension prevailed in the Maheshtala area of South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, as police crackdown on protesters continued on Thursday. So far, 18 have been arrested.

The arrests were made during a joint operation by the West Bengal Police and Kolkata Police, which started on Wednesday night and continued till Thursday morning in connection with the clashes that broke out on Wednesday afternoon.

While 14 were arrested on Wednesday night only, the remaining four were arrested early Thursday morning, a senior official of the state police confirmed.

However, the overall situation in the Maheshtala area continued to be quite tense, with most of the shops remaining closed even on Thursday morning.

The movement of the people on the road in the locality was much less than on normal days. A huge police contingent, including the personnel of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), continued to be deployed in the area to restore confidence among the people.

Prohibitory orders barring the assembly of a particular number of people at a time have been imposed in the locality.

Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, said that he approached the DGP and also the police superintendent of Diamond Harbour Police District, under whose jurisdiction the troubled area comes, for permission for himself and one more BJP legislator to visit Maheshtala. he said he wanted to meet and express solidarity with the victims of the Hindu families and the affected shopkeepers who came under the attack on Wednesday.

“This visit is a step towards understanding their grievances and ensuring their voices are heard. I hope that the administration does not obstruct my visit,” said Adhikari.

On Wednesday night, BJP’s Information Technology Cell Chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, issued a statement claiming that women in Maheshtala were forced to guard themselves at night to protect their lives.

“What Bangladesh witnessed during the Noakhali riots, and what happened in Pakistan, is now being replayed — right on the outskirts of Kolkata, under Mamata Banerjee’s administration. Malda and Murshidabad are far away — but today, with no faith left in the police, women have been compelled to take their safety into their own hands to survive the jihadi rampage,” Malviya’s statement read.

In the clashes that broke out at Maheshtala on Wednesday, several vehicles were vandalised and gutted, and some houses and the available police personnel were attacked. Some cops were also injured in their attempts to prevent the clashes.

There were contradictory claims on what prompted the clashes to break out. The police administration said the clashes broke out between two groups following a tussle over setting up a shop in the locality.

However, Adhikari claimed that the clashes were clearly “communal” in nature. He alleged that there was an event of vandalism at the Shiva Temple in Ward No. 7 of Maheshtala, where miscreants illegally encroached upon the temple committee’s land and set up shops.

“When confronted, they (the encroachers) attacked the sacred Tulsi Manch, nearby Hindu shops, homes, and the temple itself. What was astonishing was that the incident happened at a stone’s throw distance from the Rabindra Nagar Police Station, under the watch of IC Mukul Mia and SDPO Kamrujjaman Molla. The police simply could block the vandals… the entire episode happened in the presence of the cops,” he alleged on Wednesday.

Adhikari also alleged that from Mothabari to Murshidabad to Maheshtala, the attack on Hindus, Hindu establishments, and Hindu religious places has become a common factor in West Bengal these days.

A section of the local people also alleged that the situation could have been brought under control much before if the police had summoned additional forces in the beginning and thus prevented the tension from spreading.

–IANS

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