Mamata slams attack on media and bid to divide communities

KOLKATA: The first public display of “ghar wapsi” in the heart of Kolkata occurred on Wednesday when 16 members of a Muslim family, who were “re-converted to Hinduism”, were showcased on the dais of right-wing organisation Hindu Samhati at Esplanade.Hindu Samhati founder Tapan Ghosh said his outfit had been organising this “ghar-wapsi” programme for some time but had only now decided to bring “re-converted people” onto the public stage as “the time was right”. He borrowed from the title of American political scientist Samuel P Huntington’s ‘The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order’ to explain why the “time was right”: “The world is witnessing a clash of civilisations,” he said.But it soon became evident —painfully for a section of the media — that the organisers had not bargained for too much public scrutiny. Members of the outfit chased mediapersons and thrashed one of them for daring to talk to the family and asking them if they had “become Hindus again” under any pressure.Cops arrested Hindu Samhati founder Tapan Ghosh and three others for the attack on the media and indulging in hate speech. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee criticised the attack on the media and the organisation’s efforts to divide communities.The organisation lined up 16 members of a Muslim family on the dais on Rani Rashmoni Avenue, claiming they had re-embraced the Hindu religion. “This is not a conversion, but a homecoming for these people who were Hindus at one point of time,” Ghosh said.Things were fine till the media tried to talk to Hussein Ali and his wife, Mayna Bibi. Some Hindu Samhati workers chased the journalists and thrashed one of them for getting too close to the family and asking whether they had “re-converted” under pressure.Even before that, there was enough indication that the event might turn violent. Speakers, led by Ghosh, launched a diatribe against non-Hindus. “I appeal to our activists to reach out to villages and bring back to the mainstream all Muslims who were forced to give up their original faith and religion under threat. This is the first time we’ve brought these people on the dais because this is the proper time to do so as the world is witnessing a clash of civilisations,” Ghosh said.Swami Pradiptananda urged every Hindu mother to give birth to “one more child” to beat the surge in Muslim population and establish a Hindu Rashtra. Buddhist monk Karunalankar Bhikshu held that those who did not accept Hindu Rashtra should leave the country. Samhati president Debtanu Bhattacharya wondered why the Mamata Banerjee government was appeasing Muslims when the ruling Trinamool was not placed so well in districts with a strong Muslim presence.Ghosh did not even spare the state BJP. “The BJP stands on a dwindling support base. The Hindus have to take a proactive role and assert their views to consolidate the support base,” he said.Politicians from across the spectrum criticised this. Trinamool’s Partha Chatterjee and Left leader Sujan Chakrabarty came down heavily on them for trying use religion to divide communities. BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu , however, said: “We have nothing against conversion if it has been done legally. We want to know whether the organisation has done all this conforming to the law.”