Durga idol immersion: Mamata Banerjee fumes after Calcutta High Court draws parallel with Mumbai
The Calcutta High Court's observation comparing the handling of religious festivals by West Bengal police and Maharashtra police has not gone down well with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Following the high court's observation, Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to mislead people with regard to West Bengal government's arrangements for idol immersion during Durga Puja and Taazia procession Muharram.
Mamata Banerjee didn't like the comparison being made between Mumbai and state police in terms of handling festivals of different communities falling on the same day. But, the comparison came as observation by the division bench of Calcutta High Court under Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre and Tapobrata Chakrabarty.
Both the judges observed that if Mumbai police could efficiently tackle the immersion procession of two different communities during Ganesh Puja, why it was that the West Bengal government needed to postpone the day of Durga idol immersion just because another community had to observe its religious ceremony.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN?
The Mamata Banerjee government had earlier announced that immersion of Durga idols would have to be done by 6 pm on September 30. The following day was kept for Taazia procession during Muharram. Citing law and order issue, Mamata Banerjee wanted the immersion of idols to be completed either on September 30 by 6 pm or be held up for a day till Muharram was over.
Following the announcement of such an arrangement, a PIL was filed in the Calcutta High Court complaining that the Mamata government was trying to divide people on the basis of religion. The PIL stated that the decision of the Mamata government was like casting an aspersion on the people of the two communities.
The government's decision translates into an insinuation that the two communities are not capable of holding their back-to-back religious events peacefully and without turning into one another, the petitioner stated.
HIGH COURT INTERVENES
Hearing the PIL, the Calcutta High Court directed the Mamata government to explore if immersion of Durga idols on September 30 could go beyond midnight till 1.30 am to match the specified time of immersion in the lunar almanac (panchaang).
The advocate general of West Bengal tried to reason out with the high court that allowing the immersion procession to go on beyond midnight would cause problem as another community would be taking out processions. The judges wanted to know how many Muharram processions had been allowed. The government counsel informed the high court that only two organizers had sought permission for Taazia procession.
The division bench was quite surprised to hear that for only two processions the entire Durga puja immersion ceremony was either being cut short or postponed. The comparison also came up in course of what the judges had to say.
The division bench has asked the AG to explore if the immersion time could be extended till the schedule in the almanac.
MAMATA RESPONDS
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called an emergency press conference and expressed dissatisfaction over the court's observation especially where it was trying to compare situation with Mumbai.
Mamata Banerjee felt that BJP was unnecessarily trying to spread rumours about government doing appeasement politics to polarise votes. Mamata said that false news were being spread about her government trying to restrict the rituals of the puja to stoke communal passion and create a volatile situation.
Explaining the government's position further an official said, "We are apprehending a flare up, given the kind of rumour mongering (going on) and the false interpretation of our intention (is being made)."