West Bengal communal violence: Congress delegation denied entry into riot-hit Baduria

Kolkata: A Congress delegation led by state party chief Adhir Chowdhury was stopped by police on their way to riot-hit Baduria in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_3777939” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “A Congress delegation was stopped with the same reason last week. How does a visit by a political party disturb the peace of the area, I really don’t understand?”, asked Chowdhury, after he and other party leaders were stopped at Barasat and were told that political parties were not allowed to visit the area. On Monday, Chowdhury had said political activities and engagements are necessary to bring back normalcy in the region. Clashes broke out between the members of two communities in Baduria last week after a provocative social media post went viral. Although the youth involved with the social post was arrested and the post deleted, trouble broke out and spread to several areas, with trees felled to put up road blockades, vehicles, including those of police, and houses torched, and shops damaged. A number of police personnel were injured in the clashes and the central government rushed 400 paramilitary personnel to the area to control the situation.