Ruckus over immersion: miscreants pelted stones at police, police fired sticks, teargas

There was a lot of ruckus in Khagaria after the immersion on Thursday. After the immersion at 4 o’clock, people started protesting against the district administration in unison at 5 o’clock saying that they were forcibly forced to immerse the idol in less water. They were demanding a boat so that the idol could be immersed in the flowing stream of river Gandak. Whereas the place for immersion from the administrative level was marked in advance and barricading was done from the point of view of security. Arrangements for cleanliness and lighting were also made at the place of immersion. According to the information, after the immersion of the idol of Mother Durga installed in the Sanhauli Durga temple of the city, the agitated people accused the district and police administration of arbitrariness and assaulting the people involved in the immersion at Rajendra Chowk in the city. But protested. Hundreds of protesters were present on the spot. Due to this, the market was completely closed since 5 in the morning. Leader of the protesters Manish Kumar Singh said that the place marked by the district administration for idol immersion was not correct. The idol of Sanhauli is 10 feet. He was being forcibly asked to immerse himself in 4 feet of water. When the people of the Puja Committee refused to do so, SDO Amit Anurag and SDPO Sumit Kumar started hurling sticks at the Puja Committee people. Angered by this, when the people of the worship committee left the idol there and started returning, some people involved in the immersion were taken into custody. Manish Singh said that it has been a tradition to bid farewell to the idol, which we worship with full devotion for 10 days, with full respect. By interfering in the tradition of immersion, the district administration has played with the religious sentiments of the people, which cannot be tolerated. That’s why they are peacefully sitting on the road and protesting. Till noon at Rajendra Chowk, DDC Santosh Kumar, DSP Headquarters Ranjit Kumar, SDO Amit Anurag, SDPO Sumit Kumar and many officers of the district administration tried to convince the protesting leaders. After 2 o’clock, the leader Manish Singh gave his arrest along with several people signed on plain paper. After that the whole atmosphere changed. Suddenly agitated people started pelting stones at the police. After which the police used force and drove away all the people from there. During this, tear gas shells were also fired at the miscreants. During the immersion at 4 in the morning on Thursday, 7 people were detained by the police. Out of which two people had consumed alcohol. The people detained during the immersion were protesting against the immersion as per the route chart fixed by the district administration regarding immersion. After which the police took action and took 7 people into custody.

The people blocking the road had three demands. During the ruckus that started after the idol immersion, along with hundreds of people, the protesting leader Manish Singh, who was sitting at Rajendra Chowk, placed three demands before the district administration. There should be no prosecution against those detained during the immersion, action should be taken against the SDO and SDPO who lathi-charged and there should be no prosecution or action in the ongoing demonstration case.

Rumors spread about breaking the idol and immersion, everything was fine during the demonstration at Rajendra Chowk. But due to the rumors being spread on social media and administrative lethargy, the anger of the protesters kept increasing. Here, people started posting on social media WhatsApp and Facebook that the statue of Sanhauli was dismembered and immersed. Due to which the miscreants involved in the crowd got a chance and the miscreants started pelting stones at the police.

The administration released the video so that amidst the rumors being spread about the immersion, the video of the immersion of the idol of the mother installed in Sanhauli was released by the district administration. In which the statue is being immersed with full faith under the supervision of the administrative team. After the immersion, statements of some people of the worship committee were also issued. Those who are informing the people about immersion of the idol in the right way.

The miscreants of the rumor are taking illegitimate advantage ^ The idol of Sanhauli has been immersed with full faith. Administrative preparations were already going on for the immersion. Everyone has seen the video of immersion. But the miscreants are taking illegitimate advantage of the rumor being spread. People need to avoid this. There is stone pelting on the police. Strict action will be taken by identifying the people involved in this. Amit Anurag, SDO, Khagaria