Paramilitary forces in 3 Bengal districts on Hanuman Jayanti

The Union Home Ministry on Wednesday said central forces have been deployed in West Bengal to assist the state police in maintaining law and order during Hanuman Jayanti. Hanuman Jayanti festival will be celebrated across the country on April 6.

Paramilitary forces will be deployed in three districts of Hooghly, Barrackpore and Kolkata.

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to requisition central forces for assisting the state police in maintaining peace during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.

he court also ordered the Centre to make swift deployment on the receipt of requisition from the state.

Violent clashes were witnessed in Hooghly and Howrah districts during Ram Navami celebrations recently.

The violence that took place on Ram Navami had turned into a slugfest between the Bengal government headed by the Trinamool Congress and opposition BJP. Both parties have traded barbs at each other since violent clashes and incidents of vandalism had been reported.

Mamata appeals for peace on Hanuman Jayanti

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged people to celebrate the Hanuman Jayanti festival peacefully, and said while religion is a personal choice, festivities were an occasion for all to join in. Her appeal comes on the eve of the festival dedicated to Lord Hanuman and within days of the state witnessing a series of violent clashes and vandalism in the industrial districts of Howrah and Hooghly during processions celebrating Ram Navami.

''Tomorrow is Hanuman Jayanti. I will urge everybody to celebrate it peacefully. There will be no problem if peace is observed. Bengal is the land of peace,'' Banerjee told reporters after inaugurating a new building for the Press Club in this sea resort town in Purba Medinipur district.

Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, is on a four-day trip to the district. "I say religion is a personal choice, while festivities are for everyone. We must see that we celebrate festivals together peacefully. We all must pray for peace irrespective of our religious identity. Let peace prevail around the world, in India and Bengal,'' she said.

Addressing a programme at Khejuri in the district on Monday, the chief minister had directed the police to be alert as she was apprehensive of violence during the Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.