The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and a senior Bengal cabinet minister have condemned the back-to-back vandalism at Left book stalls by alleged Right-wing groups in West Bengal.
“The RSS never supports such vandalism and destruction of books. We condemn such acts of cowardice. All people have the right to express views,” said Jishnu Basu, prachar pramukh of the RSS's east zonal unit.
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“We have not been able to identify these people. We don't know who sent them,” Basu told HT, referring to viral videos uploaded from various parts of Kolkata and the districts.
The stalls have been set up by the CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML) Liberation. Since last week, all three parties have alleged that book stalls set up near community Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata and the districts were either ransacked by members of various Hindutva groups or removed by the police, who cited a lack of permission.
Bengal finance minister Swapan Dasgupta also condemned the vandalism.
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“These incidents have made me hang my head in shame. I have been a staunch critic of the Left all my life and continue to be so. But that does not mean someone can stop the Left parties from displaying or selling their books. Who are these vandals?” Dasgupta told the media.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty, however, dismissed the criticism.
“Jishnu Basu and Swapan Dasgupta are trying to be naive. These acts of vandalism started under the patronage of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said in the assembly that he would not allow these book stalls unless we met his conditions,” Chakraborty said.
Adhikari had said in the legislative assembly on September 10 that he would ask community Durga Puja committees to allow CPI(M) and other Left book stalls near their pandals only if the parties referred to the festival as Durga Puja instead of Sharodotsav (autumn festival), a term Bengal's communists have traditionally used because of their atheist beliefs.
Several videos that surfaced after the vandalism purportedly showed the perpetrators claiming to be acting on Adhikari's orders.
“How dare they carry out vandalism in our name!” Dasgupta said.
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The BJP, which has spent years trying to reach out to Bengali-speaking voters by paying homage to the state's iconic writers, scientists, freedom fighters and educationists, has faced criticism over the incidents, five months after coming to power in West Bengal.
The criticism intensified on Saturday, when 19 people died in a stampede at Kolkata's Chore Bagan Durga Puja pandal. The CPI(M) alleged that, hours after the tragedy, the police tried to use a bulldozer to demolish one of its stalls in Jadavpur, south Kolkata.
The police did not comment on the allegation. BJP spokesperson Sayantan Basu said, “The BJP is not involved in any of these incidents.”
All India Trinamool Congress legislator Kunal Ghosh visited the Jadavpur stall on Sunday to express solidarity and bought a book on CPI(M) veteran and Left Front chairman Biman Bose.