This story is from April 15, 2021

Cleric attacked for refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Hooghly

Cleric attacked for refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Hooghly
Chinsurah: A 54-year-old mosque cleric was allegedly assaulted by three youths for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ at Chawkbazar in Chinsurah, Hooghly, early on Wednesday.
Monajjem of Chawkbazar masjid Md Sufiuddin was on his way to conduct the morning Ramzan prayers when the trio on a bike intercepted him and asked him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. When he refused, they allegedly slapped him and shoved him down the road before speeding away.
A resident of Kathgola Lane, Sufiuddin later lodged a complaint with Chinsurah police.
Chandernagore city police commissioner Gaurav Sharma said they were probing the incident. “The complainant says he was assaulted. We are looking for CCTV camera footage to zero in on the accused,” Sharma added.
Even though polling in Hooghly ended on April 10, the political heat here is yet to cool off.
The district BJP tried to distance itself from Wednesday’s incident. “The party does not believe in forcing someone to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Police must thoroughly investigate the matter. All I can say is that BJP is on the threshold of a landslide victory in Bengal and people will soon spontaneously chant the slogan,” said BJP’s Hooghly district (organization) president Gautam Chatterjee.
Trinamool Congress district president Dilip Yadav said it was “BJP’s culture to destroy communal harmony” preserved for hundreds of years. “They are constantly trying to polarise people with divisive politics. I am sure the people of Bengal have voted against the divisive politics of BJP. I condemn the attack (on the cleric),” he said.
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