Kolkata, Oct 19 (IANS): An urgent hearing will be conducted at a vacation bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday on the events of ransacking the bookstalls of CPI(M) near a number of community Durga Puja pandals in the state during the ongoing festive days of Durga Puja.
A petition in the matter with a plea for urgent hearing was admitted by the Calcutta High Court on Monday. The matter, in all probability, will be heard by the single-judge vacation bench of Justice Partha Pratim Roy.
The said petition, along with the demand for compensation, has been filed by the CPI(M)’s Jadavpur area committee in South Kolkata.
During Durga Puja, allegations of vandalism of CPI(M)-organised bookstalls in various parts of the state, including Kolkata, have been reported since the festive days started.
On the night of Saptami, two CPI(M) bookstalls were also allegedly vandalised in Jadavpur Area. Political debates have started over that incident. This time, the CPI(M) has taken the legal route.
Several intellectuals and members of civil society have condemned the events of vandalism at CPI(M) bookstalls. Even the state finance minister, Swapan Dasgupta, a journalist-turned-politician, had condemned the incident and said that such events were not only unfortunate but also shameful.
“I could have understood if the event was an isolated incident. But it happened in three or four places. I cannot accept this in any way. We have ideological differences with the Left Parties. But why do some people not let them sell books? Who are they? Who gave them this right? Such matters are reprehensible. I feel ashamed. May this never happen again,” Dasgupta said.
The CPI(M) leaders and activists never get associated with the religious involvements in Durga Puja. But traditionally for years, party activists had been setting up bookstalls carrying Communist and Marxist literature near the popular community Durga Puja pandals in the state.
This practice is also believed to be an effective public relations exercise at a time when several people assemble at the Puja pandals on these festive days. This year, besides books on Communist and Marxist literature, the CPI(M) bookstalls also displayed literary works by popular Bengali poets and writers like Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, among others.
–IANS
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