A group of 50 to 60 Matua community people who were on their way to Thakurnagar to attend the Baruni Utsav (the Birth anniversary celebration of Sri Sri Harichand Thakur) were attacked and grievously injured and the Matua flag and posters of revered Thakur was destroyed by a group of people allegedly belonging to the minority population of Bengal.
The incident took place on 30th March at around 1:30 in the night just after the Kazipara railway crossing in the Barasat police district of West Bengal and a written complaint in this regard has been filed with the Barasat police station.
According to the complaint, a copy of which is with The Daily Guardian, a group of 40-50 people had gathered in the middle of the road and stopped the bus that was carrying the Matua Bhaktas while on their way to Thakurnagar, and started hurling abuses and pelting stones on the bus, which left at least 30 people injured and two men grievously injured. The two men are currently undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Kolkata.
The complaint which has been filed by one, Shekhar Haldar, at the Barasat Police station reads, “We were a group of 60-70 Matua bhaktas on our way to the Matua dham in Thakurnagar in a bus from Narendrapur. At around 1:30 AM when we crossed the Kazipara railway crossing on Jessore road, a group of 40-50 people had forcefully stopped our bus by blocking the road using wood logs and started abusing women in the bus and were commanding all of us to get down from the bus. When we did not get down from the bus, they started pelting big stones on the bus from all directions.”
“They have even attacked the bus with sticks and rods and started attacking the women in the bus with sharp objects. My brother Suman Halder who tried to stop them has been grievously injured. Our mobile phones have also been snatched and our Dalapati have been beaten up mercilessly.” Shekhar Halder in his complaint claimed.
The Daily Guardian also spoke to a couple of women who were on the bus on that fateful night and all of them have said that they were scared since the majority of the people on that bus were women and they were feeling helpless. They also claimed that the goons had torn down their Dharma flag which was put on the bus and tore the poster that contained images of the community’s revered Harichand and Guruchand Thakur.
The All India Matua Mahasangh’s Sanghadipati and Union Minister Shantanu Thakur have also taken cognizance of the issue and have asked the Barasat police to take immediate action against the perpetrators of the crime and have also blamed the local police for not being able to protect even Teerth Yatris in Bengal.
The issue was also raised in Parliament on Friday by BJP MP from Hooghly Locket Chatterjee where she appraised the Lok Sabha about how Matua’s and other such tribal communities in Bengal are continuously being attacked by miscreants and the West Bengal police is keeping mum on these issues.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also virtually addressed the Matua Community in Thakurnagar through live stream from New Delhi where lakhs of Matua Bhaktas had gathered to pay their obeisance to the Thakur family.
The Matua community is celebrating the six days annual Baruni Mela that marks the birth anniversary of the founder of the Matua Dharma, Sri Sri Harichand Thakur, where people belonging to the Matua community from across the country gather at Thakurnagar, in Bongaon Lok Sabha, West Bengal to take a holy dip.