Trinamool Congress leaders on Friday put their best foot forward to reconnect with people by attending prayers at mosques and on streets in the trouble-hit areas of
Murshidabad.

Last Friday, a massive protest against the new waqf Act erupted into violent communal clashes between two communities in Murshidabad’s Samserganj and some other areas, resulting in three deaths and the loss of lives and livelihoods for hundreds of Hindu and Muslim families.

In the past week, many, including TMC workers, had accused the ruling party lawmakers of being disconnected from the community and consequently failing to anticipate or contain the magnitude of the violence. On Friday, the damage-control efforts were palpable.

Samserganj MLA Amirul Islam, who usually takes part in Friday prayers at a mosque near his home in Pithkuri village, on this Friday visited a mosque in the Dhulian municipality area in Samserganj, the flashpoint of the violence. He met residents and urged them to help restore normality, recalling how people of different communities once lived together peacefully in Dhulian.

“I don’t usually attend Friday prayers at the mosque where I went today (Friday). But as I have been moving around the violence-hit areas for the past three days to restore peace and normality, I joined the Friday prayer at the local mosque in Dhulian,” said the Samserganj MLA.

Samserganj is home to as many as four TMC lawmakers — Samserganj MLA Islam, Jangipur MP Khalilur Rahaman, Farakka MLA Manirul Islam and Sagardighi MLA Bayron Biswas.

Apart from the Samserganj MLA, Jangipur MP Rahaman and Farakka MLA Manirul Islam also visited different mosques to meet local people, spread a message of harmony and reconnect with the Muslim community. Biswas, however, did not visit any local mosque, as he took part in prayers at his home.

After the onset of the violence in Malda-bordering Samserganj, when several local TMC workers and leaders accused the party’s elected lawmakers of “disconnect”, many even said that taking advantage of this, several radical groups previously associated with the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) instigated violence in areas where 80 per cent of the population is Muslim.

“What the local lawmakers and TMC leaders did this Friday should have been done before the violence erupted last Friday. Had they stayed better connected with the people, the loss of three lives and the livelihoods of hundreds of common people might have been avoided,” said a Trinamool leader in Dhulian.

Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, who was sent from Calcutta to speak with different community members, formed a new peace committee consisting people of various communities, including Hindus and Muslims.

A peace rally marched through Dhulian town on Friday, led by the four lawmakers of the area along with local businessmen and residents, urging everyone to help restore harmony and return the area to its earlier peaceful state.

Samirul said the peace committee members would visit different trouble-hit areas from Saturday onward to spread messages of peace and rebuild the confidence shaken by the communal tensions.

“Most business establishments have reopened and people from all communities want to return to normality and preserve the harmonious environment that existed in Samserganj for years. The people of this area are peace-loving,” he said.

People from different communities, including Hindus and Muslims, said the joint peace committee would certainly help bring peace and positivity to the area.

“Our local lawmakers and Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam urged us to join hands to restore normality. Since we also want peace in the area, we attended the meeting,” said Sasthi Ghosh, a representative of the Ghosh community.

Allegedly, on April 11, there had been announcements from several mosques in the area urging people to join the anti-waqf Act protests after the routine Friday prayers.

This Friday, all the imams of the mosques were instructed to spread messages of harmony and peace during their traditional post-prayer addresses.

Maulana Golam Mehub, secretary of the All Bengal Imam and Muazzin Association and Charitable Trust, said that the organisation had urged all local imams in Samserganj to promote peace and harmony, focusing on the core values of the religion.

“As far as we know, all the imams in the area followed the instructions and contributed to restoring peace in violence-hit Samserganj,” he said.