Kolkata: Almost a month after the communal violence broke out in minority-dominated Murshidabad district of West Bengal during protests over the Waqf Act, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be on a two-day visit to the district from Monday.
As per the tentative schedule of the Chief Minister, she will be reaching Murshidabad’s administrative headquarters of Baharampur in the evening and will have an organisational meeting.
On Tuesday, she will visit the strife-affected spots like Dhulian and Samserganj, and interact with the people there. The Chief Minister will also address an administrative review meeting at Dhulian.
The communal violence broke out in Murshidabad and a few other places on April 8. Hundreds of Hindus fled from their homes and took shelter in nearby districts. The violence continued till the High Court ordered the deployment of paramilitary forces on April 12.
Five-time former Congress Lok Sabha member from West Bengal and also the former state president of the party in West Bengal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has ridiculed the Chief Minister’s late arrival at Murshidabad.
“I am sure that after coming here, she will try to give the impression that nothing major happened in Murshidabad last month,” Chowdhury said.
The Chief Minister’s visit to Murshidabad is happening just a day after information surfaced about Governor C.V, Ananda Bose submitting a report to the Union Ministry of Home affairs where he has highlighted various lapses and drawbacks on part of the state government in handling the communal violence in the district in particular, and West Bengal in general.
Last month, when the communal violence at Murshidabad was at its peak, the Chief Minister not only clarified why she was not visiting Murshidabad then but also requested the Governor to cancel his scheduled tour to the troubled pockets in the state.
“I am not going now since I want the situation to become normal there. Let the confidence among people be restored, and only after that will I visit the place. I will also request the Governor to refrain from Murshidabad now,” the Chief Minister said last month.
However, the Governor did not honour the request. He visited the troubled pockets in Murshidabad last month and interacted with the affected people there. The Governor also visited a temporary relief camp at the Murshidabad-adjacent Malda district, where the displaced people were housed then.
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