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Kolkata: A violent clash between two groups erupted at Sainthia in the Birbhum district of West Bengal on Friday, prompting the administration to suspend internet services in the area till Monday. Mobile call and SMS facilities are available though, authorities said. Internet services have been blocked to prevent the spread of fake images and videos that may lead to disturbances elsewhere, they added.
Sainthia is about 180 km from Kolkata and barely 33 km from Santiniketan, home to the Visva Bharati University, set up by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
According to the police, trouble started when a group of Holi revellers – allegedly drunk – got into a verbal altercation with people from another community. The verbal duel soon turned into a brawl and before long, others arrived at the scene. Finally, both sides started pelting stones at each other. A few persons received minor injuries.
Video footage, doing the rounds on social media, reveals a mob pelting stones across what seems to be a field. There are houses in the background. The police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control after a lathi charge. Tension, however, continues to prevail in the area and patrolling is continuing. An official said that 20 people have been detained in this connection.
The state BJP, meanwhile, took up this issue to attack the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal. In a statement to the media, union minister and West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said that the Trinamool Congress government in the state has made the police ‘useless’. He also accused the party and its leaders of turning Birbhum into a ‘blast factory’.
“Such incidents have become common in Birbhum. Even Trinamool leaders have been caught from the district with gelatin sticks. The West Bengal Police have been politicised to such an extent that they have lost their professionalism and effectiveness,” Majumdar said.