Agnipath row: Bengal govt cautions against agitations turning violent

Kolkata, June 17 (IANS) The West Bengal government on Friday cautioned all the district administrations to remain on guard so that the agitations against 'Agnipath', the proposed scheme for short-term recruitment in the armed forces, do not take a violent turn as it happened during the recent agitations against the controversial comments on Prophet Muhammad.

"So far the impact of the agitations over the Agnipath scheme in West Bengal is negligible. However, we have alerted the district magistrates and police superintendents to adopt utmost caution so that under no circumstances the agitations go out of control or take a violent turn in the districts," said a senior official of the state home department, who did not wish to be named.

It is learnt that the state police have been instructed to keep special vigil on those pockets which are at the borders of West Bengal with neighbouring Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

"This is to prevent any possibility of miscreants coming in from other states and fuelling tension. The police have been asked to keep a check on all these points and aggravate the patrolling process for the next few days," the official said.

Recently, certain minority-dominated pockets in Howrah, Murshidabad and Nadia districts turned violent after protests broke out over the Prophet row.

It was alleged that the failure on the part of the intelligence wings of the state police was a major reason for the agitations taking a violent turn.

On Friday morning, anti-Agnipath agitations, albeit at a low scale, were witnessed in North 24 Parganas district.