Left Initiatives in Midst of Communal Tensions in Ranchi

The Sangh Parivar has once again been trying to disrupt the communal harmony in Ranchi. On 25 September 2015, during a brief period of power cut at night between 9.30 pm to 10 pm, an incident involving throwing of prohibited meat pieces in two temples located in Shivpuri area took place. An uproar followed once the power was restored at 10.30 pm. While it remains unknown as to who threw the meat pieces and who informed the rest about this occurrence, at about 11 pm a massive mobilization of Hindu groups took place to block the roads. According to the sources, however, the pieces of prohibited meat that had been found had been pasted with light colour clothing on animal skin.

Within no time, the gathered group set on fire an egg-selling shop and a hut like club belonging to people from minority sections. They started demanded a ban on sale of prohibited meat in Manitola. People belonging to both Hindu and Muslim religions reside on the Patthar road in Manitola. Soon the communal tension escalated to a level that deafening silence and turning off lights began to mark Muslim mohallas. VHP and Bajrang dal goons begin to incite people by provocative speeches even as the state administration continued to watch in silence.

Incidents of communal violence begin to take place in presence of police forces which had gathered to watch in silence. On 26 September, a popular news daily in Ranchi carried a provocative story that further accelerated the communal tension in Ranchi. On 26 September itself, goons belonging to RSS and VHP tried to further vitiate the atmosphere.

On the same day, on the initiative of CPI (ML) state secretary, Com. Janardan Prasad an urgent meeting of left forces including CPI, CPI (M), CPI (ML), MCC, Forward Block, besides others, was called. Following the decision taken during the meeting, immediately a team of left leaders met the district authorities and demanded arrest of the goons who had been trying to create communal tensions in the state.

On 27 September 2015, a massive peace march was carried out in Ranchi under a united left banner. A fact finding team comprising of representatives from the left parties was also sent to Doranda. Another meeting of left parties took place on 28 September and from 29 September to 1 October 2015, pamphlets appealing for peace were distributed. A team also met the Governor to hand over a memorandum.

On 2 October 2015, on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, another massive peace march was organized by the left parties. The initiatives taken by the left played a crucial role in foiling the attempts of Sangh Parivar to engineer major communal violence in Jharkhand and influence the Bihar elections through such attempts at communal polarizations.

Back-to-previous-article
Top