Demonstration held at Jantar Mantar over Basirhat violence

A demonstration against the communal violence in West Bengal was held at Jantar Mantar here today with the participants raising slogans against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and accusing her of "minority appeasement".
Communal clashes had broken out in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Monday following an "objectionable" Facebook post.
Rajya Sabha member and senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta, who took part in the protest, said, it was important to highlight the "deteriorating situation" in the state.
"Everyone in India should be concerned about what is happening in Bengal," he said.
The demonstrators were addressed by Anirban Ganguly, the Director of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, former cricketer Saradindu Mukherjee, advocate Monika Arora, and environmental activist Mohit Ray.

They questioned the "selective outrage" by writers who had returned their awards over "rising intolerance" in the country but have "maintained silence" over the communal violence in West Bengal.
A demonstrator, who was born and brought up in Basirhat, said people belonging to all religions had lived there together peacefully.
"I could not even think of communal tension flaring-up there. The situation deteriorated in the past 10 years due to vote bank politics," he said.