Gangapur, a village alongside the famed Kolkata Leather Complex under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Leather Complex Police Station within 24 Paraganas (South) district, remained witness to a communal fracas on December 24, 2013 due to bids of fortifying an illegal mosque in the environs. It has been learnt, a few people (belonging to Muslim community) appeared in the land sharing an ancient temple of Banadevi surprisingly and without consulting anyone, they commenced to build up a new structure – later found as an illicit mosque. The news was enough to both unnerve and enrage local Hindus as they knew that they would have to pay a high price for this ultimately.
It is worth mentioning, the ancient temple exists within 100 meters of the disputed and illegal structure; Hindus worship at the temple regularly and the Banadevi fair is also organized there annually. As a result, the effort behind this new mosque was deemed as evil by local Hindus. They also realized that completion of the same would endanger Hindu locality and its way of life. And this new crisis would not be limited to any jolt only. On the word of a villager (on condition of anonymity), “even If Hindus have no problem with any new mosque, past experiences are enough to ascertain that any such development would call Hindus, their religious beliefs and also worships a halt. And administration supports these evil designers only.”
As there was no other option for a peaceful resolution, local Hindus, led by Hindu Samhati, organized a mass resistance to the shady project leading to its termination finally.