Kolkata: Violent protests by the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party – based on the false claim that Muslim people had vandalised the idol of a Hindu deity – failed to whip up any communal frenzy in a Bengal village and lost steam entirely when police said that a lone drunk man had been arrested for the crime.  

Late on October 21, locals discovered that an idol of the Hindu deity Kali had been damaged in the Naskarpara area of Suryanagar village of Kakdwip area of the South 24 Parganas district.

Locals said that BJP leaders rushed to the spot early on October 22, and began blaming members of the Muslim community and inciting locals. Party workers then blocked the National Highway. Some clashed with the police.

When police began making public announcements through loudspeakers, urging protesters to lift the blockade, the crowd started pelting stones at the police personnel.

When police decided to carry the broken idol in a van and immerse it in accordance with rituals to prevent further unrest, BJP workers intensified their protests and stone-pelting. 

BJP leaders, including leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari claimed that the crime was communal and used polarising language on social media. Adhikari said, “In the end, Mamata Banerjee’s police took Mother Kali away in a prison van! We have nowhere to hide our shame...Yesterday, from the puja pandal in Uttar Chandanpur village of Suryanagar Gram Pancayat area under Kakdwip Assembly, jihadis cut off the head of Mother Kali’s idol and fled.”

A day ago, on October 23, Sundarban Superintendent of Police Koteswar Rao said in a press conference, “The police have arrested a young man named Narayan Halder in connection with the incident. He has confessed to the crime.” Haldar was arrested yesterday itself, said Rao.

The police said that the act was the work of one man and ruled out communal or political motives in it. Rao said, “We are interrogating him to find out who else was involved and why the act was committed. The police are maintaining peace and sanctity in the area,” adding that, “Prima facie, it appears to be a localised issue.”

Residents of Suryanagar, a village where Hindus and Muslims have co-existed, which is about nine kilometres from the National Highway 117, expressed disbelief at how the incident was politicised. 

“We all live here peacefully. When the news spread, Hindus and Muslims together demanded punishment for the culprits. Now we know the truth,” said one Basanta Haldar, a local who works as a carpenter.

While the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has claimed that Haldar is close to the BJP’s youth wing, sources among police said Haldar is not officially affiliated with any political organisation. Some locals, in turn, said that Haldar is believed to be close to a local faction of the ruling TMC.

Police investigation is underway to determine whether the vandalism was spontaneous or politically motivated.

The Kakdwip episode is the latest in a series of similar incidents across West Bengal where communal tension was whipped up over damage to idols or religious sites, only for investigations to later reveal political motives or intra-party rivalries.

In February this year, BJP leader Arjun Singh claimed that a charred Kali idol in Murshidabad was destroyed by “jihadists” in a communal attack, but the local temple committee and district police confirmed that the idol was burned in a fire with “no communal angle to the incident” and “no signs of forced entry.”

Also in February, BJP panchayat member Prosenjit Ghosh was arrested for admitting to breaking a Saraswati idol to spark unrest amid factional feuds in Nadia’s Chopra.

Earlier, in November 2024, communal clashes broke out in Murshidabad’s Beldanga over an Islamophobic message posted in a village fair celebrating Kartik Puja.

Translated from the Bengali original and with inputs by Aparna Bhattacharya.

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