West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose said that hooligans won’t be allowed to take the law into their own hands and there would be ‘solid action’ from law enforcement agencies.
The Governor rushed to violence-hit Rishra on Tuesday from Darjeeling and spoke to senior police officials and locals in the affected town and adjoining areas in Hooghly district.
Mr Bose reached Rishra directly from Kolkata airport after arriving from Darjeeling and visited Railway Gate 4, epicentre of the trouble that erupted during a Ram Navami procession in which BJP MP Dilip Ghosh and party MLA Biman Ghosh took part on Sunday evening.
Mr Bose was there in Darjeeling for a G20 meeting but cut short his trip to rush to Hooghly.
Biman Ghosh was taken to a local hospital after sustaining injuries during the violence.
“There will be solid action by all enforcement agencies. We will never allow miscreants to take the law into their own hands. Police will come down heavily on them. Bengal has been suffering for a long time, we will put an end to it,” Mr Bose said.
The Centre and the state government would work together to eliminate mob violence, he added.
Mr Bose also visited Bijoy Malik, who was injured in the Rishra communal clash at the state-run SSKM Hospital after coming back from Rishra later in the day. Mr Malik is scheduled to undergo a brain surgery at the hospital.
“One injured person is undergoing treatment here at SSKM Hospital,” Mr Bose said after meeting the patient, adding, “On behalf of the Raj Bhavan I donated Rs 25,000 for his treatment.”
Tension continued to prevail in Rishra town with most shops and establishments downing their shutters throughout the day since Monday.
People stayed indoors after police clamped prohibitory orders in the area.
Howrah and Hooghly, two districts adjoining Kolkata, have been hit by clashes between members of two communities in two separate incidents in Shibpur and Rishra town since Thursday. Public property was vandalised and police had to use tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. Another round of violence erupted in Hooghly on Sunday