Left parties allege attack on bookstalls; Calcutta High Court stays previous order allowing stalls

A day after the Calcutta High Court allowed the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to set up their bookstalls outside Durga Puja pandals, party members alleged that several of their stalls were attacked and vandalised. Leaders of the Left Front on Friday (October 16) called it an attack on free thinking. 

However, a division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday stayed the single Bench’s Thursday order which allowed the temporary bookstalls to be set up.

“To develop a democratic and free society, people must read diverse books and build diverse opinions. But this time we have seen the government cracking down on our stalls. The Chief Minister intervened in this, but this is not the government’s job,” Mohammad Salim, West Bengal State secretary of the CPI(M), said. 

Mr. Salim added that no government can stop books, and that they will, as a form of protest, set up more bookstalls than usual. “The books are just an excuse; they actually want to crackdown on anything related to education and culture. They have declared war on these creative fields,” Mr. Salim said.  

Kartik Pal from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation said that their democratic rights were being snatched away. “They think books are arms. Why are they so scared of books? The tradition of reading books shall continue in Bengal,“ Mr. Pal said. 

The Left parties have, for many decades, set up bookstalls during Durga Puja festivities where they sell books in line with their ideology and politics. Left leaders argue that this has been the tradition in West Bengal, where politics, festivities, and culture blend together seamlessly and co-exist in harmony. 

Multiple attacks

Left Front leaders claim that their under-construction bookstalls have come under attack and been vandalised by miscreants, many of whom are right-wing affiliated.

Stalls have allegedly been attacked in parts of Kolkata, , including in Entally and Jorabagan in north Kolkata, and Kulpi in South 24 Parganas, and Bijpur in North 24 Parganas. 

The CPI(M) said that their under-construction bookstall in Bijpur was allegedly set on fire late on Thursday (October 15) night. In Kulpi, a crowd shouted Jai Shri Ram slogans in front of their bookstall while it was being set up. Party members were also allegedlly issued verbal threats by the mob. 

The CPI(ML) Liberation had alleged that their bookstall in Kolkata’s Dhakuria was attacked on Wednesday (October 14). Similarly, the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) said that their bookstall near Behala Manton was stopped from being set up, and that they faced threats. 

Left leaders have held a joint protest outside Lake Police Station to raise safety concerns with the authorities. 

Creating ‘dimagi naxals’

“They do not perform shradh rituals after the death of their parents. They will talk about Karl Marx and Lenin and sell their books here and create ‘dimagi naxals‘. They harm the nation and want to divide it up, they cannot be allowed in India. Their bookstalls cannot be allowed,” State Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arjun Singh said on Friday.  

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had previously urged Durga Puja pandals to not let the CPI(M) set up their bookstalls if they used the term “Saradutsav“ (autumn festival) to describe the festival. 

Previously, Satarup Ghosh, a CPI(M) leader had made a sarcastic comment stating that they would play old videos of Mr. Adhikari during his time in the Trinamool Congress in their bookstalls for Durga Puja.