31 arrested for Ram Navami clashes in Bengal district

Kolkata: 

Two days after clashes during Ram Navami processions, the situation in Murshidabad district’s Jangipur area is now peaceful, police sources said. Prohibitory orders have been imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita. Police officials said 31 people had been arrested and 21 were injured in the clashes. 

“The situation is now peaceful. We are analysing video and CCTV footage to identify more people and arrest them,” a senior police official told The Hindu on Sunday (March 29, 2026). 

Clashes broke out between two groups on March 27, 2026 during a Ram Navami rally in Jangipur’s Raghunathganj area. Tension gripped the locality as the situation escalated quickly as stone pelting, arson, and vandalism incidents were reported. Security was tightened. 

Ahead of the Assembly polls, the clashes at the rally led to heated exchange between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) . Both West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Union Home Minister Amit Shah traded barbs a day after the violence rocked the north Bengal district. 

“You [BJP] removed people [officers] under me and orchestrated this riot. You should be ashamed. You have looted shops, started arson… When one Shiv temple is broken, BJP does so much drama. Breaking a temple is not right, I do not support it. Who gave you the right to start a riot in Raghunathganj?” Ms. Banerjee said at a rally on Saturday (March 28, 2026). 

Mamata’s charge

During her campaign, Ms. Banerjee said people should not blame her for the violence that unfolded because all police officers had been changed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and she as an elected Chief Minister had been left with no powers. 

“I don’t know why the administration is not taking action… BJP has cherry-picked officers,” the TMC supremo said at a rally in Pashchim Bardhaman’s Raniganj.

Mr. Shah hit back at Ms. Banerjee and said the number of such incidents had declined after the ECI transferred certain officers under the Mamata Banerjee government. 

“The transfer of officers may look excess in Bengal because many of them have become cadres of them [Mamata and TMC]. But such transfers happen in every poll-bound State,” Mr. Shah added. 

The EC has transferred multiple top police and administrative officers from across West Bengal after the elections were declared on March 15, and the Model Code of Conduct was imposed. 

In the adjacent district of Malda, viral visuals showed young men carrying daggers and long knives in a Ram Navami procession, though there were strict restrictions against carrying such objects in public rallies. 

Violence in Ram Navami processions is not new in West Bengal. In 2024, there was a crude bomb explosion at the Shaktipur area in Murshidabad district during a Ram Navami procession. Prior to this in 2023, violence broke out in Howrah’s Shibpur and Rishra in Hooghly and Dalkhola in north Bengal area during a Ram Navami procession.