Six monks of the Ananda Marg sect were injured, one of them seriously, when they clashed this morning inside the headquarters of the order in Purulia.
The injured were admitted to the Purulia Sadar Hospital. Bhagya Ranjan Mahato, 27, who was hit on the head, was later shifted to the Bankura Medical College and Hospital.
Today’s clash was said to be a sequel to the long-standing feud between Bengali- and Hindi-speaking monks over the control of the Marg headquarters at Pundag, about 380 km from Calcutta.
On September 18, the monks fought a pitched battle in which Abhipremananda Abhadhoot, 51, a Margi from Bihar, was killed and nine others injured.
Special inspector-general of police Narayan Ghosh said at Writers’ Buildings this afternoon today’s clash began when district magistrate G.P. Gopalika was at a meeting with representatives of both groups over organising a three-day Dharma Maha Sammelan beginning December 30.
“Trouble started as the Margis from Bihar insisted on not allowing those from Purulia and its adjoining areas to participate in the three-day festival at the headquarters. When efforts were on to broker peace among the monks, some Margis based in Purulia attacked those from Bihar. Fire-arms were indiscriminately used in the clash,” said Ghosh. More than a hundred people have been arrested.
Additional superintendent of police Tapan Ranjan Ghosh, who visited the headquarters with a large contingent, said three rifles were recovered. Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been deployed to ward off further trouble, he added.
Ghosh said kirtan-singing Margis from Bengal were trying to enter the headquarters around 8 am when the clash began. Once attacked by the Bihari monks, the kirtan singers retaliated with bows and arrows. Security guards, who had been appointed by the monks from Bihar, fled the scene leaving their rifles behind.
Allegedly agitated by the desertion, the Margis from Bihar took the rifles and opened fire at those entering the headquarters.
Kalyaneswara Abhadhoot, the public relations secretary of the Ananda Marg Pracharak Sanga, held the monks from Bihar responsible for today’s clash. “It is sad that we are fighting ourselves forgetting the ideals of our founder,” he regretted. He accused the Biharis of trying to keep the Bengali-speaking monks out of the Dharma Maha Sammelan.