Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma conducted a security check on the eve of Ram Navami on April 5, 2025. Image source: ANI
West Bengal is still on the brink of Saturday’s festival eve as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other Hindutva groups advise people to participate in a large Ram Navami parade.
Police patrol and vigil throughout the state as hundreds of parades were organized. Senior police officers were seen patrolling different areas in Kolkata, Channagar, Hora, Islampur and other parts of the state.
Kolkata Police Chief Manoj Kumar Verma visited certain parts of the city on Saturday, with nearly all senior officials going to compete on Sunday. Mr Verma said the Kolkata High Court had developed guidelines on the march and communicated it to organizers. He said city police had received about 80 applications for parades. Senior police officers were also seen patrolling the city’s streets in Howrah Police Complional deployed drones to monitor high-rise roofs.
In 2024, a rough bomb explosion occurred in the Shaktipur region of the Meshidabad region during the Ram Navami march. Violence broke out in Shibpur in Howrah and Dalkhola in the North Bangladesh region during the Ram Navami march.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged people not to hear rumors and accused “Ram and Bam (BJP and left) of trying to incite the riots. The leaders of opposition Suvendu Adhikari have been advising Hindus to participate in a large number of participation in the past few days and claimed that 15 million Hindus would participate in the march.
Mr Adhikari on Saturday urged Hindus to cross castes, join the parade and “show their power.” The BJP leaders claimed that they were detained in certain places in the state police stations and requested the signing of bonds issued by local courts.
In the past few days, the Kolkata High Court has allowed the licenses of Anjani Putra Sena and Howrah’s Anjani Putra Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. A total of 1,000 gatherings can be held with 500 people in each of the two organizations.
Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh responded to the speech of the BJP leaders, and observed many festivals in West Bengal, and the hype of Ram Navami was the political strategy of the BJP.
Academic and civil rights activists have raised questions and concerns about the state’s “Hindu Festival.” A report on the RAM NAVAMI march in West Bengal and related community violence, published in May 2024, stressed that Trinamool Congress has been competing with the Bharatiya Janata Party and other Hindutva Allies to help and organize such processes.
The report is “West Bengal: Postal Ramanawami Public Riot (2016-23)”, Research Organization, Aamra Ek Sachetan Prayas, In Asansol-Raniganj, Howrah and Rishra handled several public outbreaks.
EOM
publishing – April 6, 2025 09:27 AM IST
