Man with a gun at Ram Navami rally in Bengal arrested, BJP says not their man
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Kolkata: The man who was seen with a pistol at the rally organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in connection with Ram Navami in West Bengal has reportedly been arrested. The West Bengal police said that 19-year-old Sumit Shaw was arrested yesterday from Sakhoul, Bangalma, from the house of one of his relatives, identified as Chamak Lal Shaw.
The ruling Trinamool Congress has criticized the BJP and the VHP for denying their direct involvement in the communal clashes that occurred in many parts of the state during the Ram Navami procession.
It has been reported that several TMC leaders shared a video in which Sumit Shaw can be seen brandishing a gun during the Ram Navami procession. The TMC claimed that with Shaw's arrest, the lies of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have been exposed.
TMC spokesperson Krishanu Mitra said, "Yesterday, the BJP and VHP claimed that the procession video does not belong to them." Furthermore, Mitra added, "The man who was seen with a weapon and about whom the BJP had been in denial mode has now been arrested.
"It is clear that the BJP is bringing hooligans from Munger to Bengal to create a disturbance", Party leader Kunal Ghosh also stated.
On March 31, TMC’s National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee shared a video on Twitter that depicted a man allegedly from the VHP’s Ramnavami Shobha Yatra in Howrah brandishing a country-made gun.
Banerjee accused the BJP of using a "dangabaji formula" to incite and instigate communities against one another in his tweet. The video was also shared by other TMC MPs.
Meanwhile, BJP maintained that the video that is viral now is not from the Ram Navami rally which was organised by the VHP. The BJP has accused the TMC of planting the man arrested for carrying a gun at the Ram Navami rally in Bengal in order to tarnish the BJP's image.
Sajal Ghosh of the BJP has called the incident a premeditated act of violence orchestrated by the TMC.
During Ram Navami processions, communal clashes erupted in Hooghly and Howrah. In Howrah, on Thursday of last week, two groups clashed and several vehicles were set on fire. Many shops were vandalized during the violence, and a number of cars, including a few police vehicles, were set ablaze. Police had to use tear gas shells to regain control of the situation.