THE most hateful act resorted to by the fundamentalists of secretly putting a Koran beside a Hindu idol at a Durga Puja Pandal at Comilla, Bangladesh in the dead of night on October 13, sparked large scale anti-Hindu violence in ten districts of that country. Clearly, it was a well-knit conspiracy to evoke religious hatred and break the traditional harmony of Hindus and Muslims who have been peacefully living in that country for ages.    

The Bangladesh government, however, took prompt and proactive measure to restore peace, mutual confidence and trust between the two religious sections – Hindus and Muslims. The perpetrator was identified and following an intense search, he was at last taken to custody. 

Initially, the people of Tripura responded to the events in Bangladesh quite moderately and kept confidence that the Bangladesh government would take stern legal measures against the saboteurs.

But due to the ruling BJP’s evil design to cash in on the Bangladesh events in the run up to the ensuing elections to urban bodies in the state scheduled on November 25, the situation in the state started changing. They fielded Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) that organised a bigger protest demonstration in Agartala  town on October 21, chanting most provocative anti-Muslim slogans. They started organising similar protest rallies in different Muslim dominated areas. Following these demonstrations, the fanatic VHP followers unleashed violent raids on Mosques. They carried on attacks on 14 Mosques in three districts namely North Tripura, Gomati and Sepahijala. The miscreants set fire to at least two Mosques, one at Bishalgarh and another at Udaipur, vandalised articles inside three Mosques, damaged boundary walls and in most places they removed the mike-set fitted at the top of the tomb of the Mosques. In Gomati District, power connections were cut off from four Mosques. At Rowa of North Tripura, shops of six Muslim petty traders, were gutted down.  In Agartala  also,  they tried to desecrate Mosques  but due to timely intervention of the police, their attempt could be foiled.

However, this religious frenzy did not reign for long, thanks to the rational and secular minded democratic sections of the people and most of the state media who came forward in strong condemnation of the events of attacks in Mosques. The situation at present is though tense, but under control. CPI(M) Tripura state secretariat, expressing grave concern at the provocations of VHP, said in a statement that the provocative demonstrations organised by VHP in various places is a breach of peace in the state. The tradition of harmonious relations among various religious sections of the state must be protected and in this respect, all the peace-loving secular-minded democratic people must come forward, the statement appealed.