Post Ram Navami Clash, WB Takes Precautions for Hanuman Jayanti

Any person found carrying weapons during the festival day can stand to be persecuted under the IPC.

In the wake of the Ram Navami clashes that took place in the state of Bengal, both the Kolkata police and political parties appear to be concerned about the upcoming Hanuman Jayanti festival.

According to a Times of India report, the festival is likely to become a loggerhead event for the TMC and the BJP.

While the report quotes TMC leaders as stating that they will appeal for peace to be maintained in the rallies, another report in the daily said the Kolkata police are not leaving anything to chance.

According to the second report, the Kolkata police will not allow anybody to carry anything that constitutes as a “weapon” on the festival that is to take place on Saturday, 31 March.

TMC to Take Rallies, VHP to Celebrate in Temples

Speaking to TOI, TMC Minister and MLA Lakshmi Ratan Shukla said that the party would be celebrating Hanuman Jayanti much like it does every year- by organizing a rally.

Participants will carry maces and there will be a chariot with a Hanuman idol on it. We will appeal to citizens to read Hanuman Chalisa and stay away from violence.

TMC Minister Lakshmi Ratan Shukla

According to the report, multiple TMC rallies of a similar nature will be organized across the city.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, on the other hand, will reportedly restrict their celebrations to within the premises of temples, the TOI article adds.

Our main focus will be on ishtonaam jopwith sadhus in temples and popularising the demand of building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

VHP state spokesman Sourish Mukherjee told TOI 

The party also mentioned that they would play music through microphones near the temples and if the police objected, would state that the latter didn’t “let us celebrate Hanuman Jayanti”.

Kolkata Police Bans Weapons

Following a 20 December 2017 notification, which forbade the use of weapons, religious rallies being no exception, the Kolkata police have said that the “display of offensive weapons can lead police to register FIRs under various non-bailable IPC sections”, such as144 (joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence) and several others.

TOI reports that the police have also been asked to keep communication channels open at all informal levels and to keep the senior members of the community in loop. Social media monitoring and special monitoring of all sensitive zones is also to be implemented.

The precautions for the Hanuman Jayanti festival come in the wake of the clashes that broke out in West Bengal's Raniganj around a Ram Navami rally on Monday, injuring at least six police personnel including a senior officer.