Several journalists were on Tuesday allegedly beaten up by supporters of the Hindu Samhati, a pro- Hindu outfit when the former sought to know details of 14 persons who were claimed to have been converted from different religions to Hinduism and paraded on the dais at Rani Rashmoni Avenue. The programme was organised to mark the foundation day of the outfit.

Its founder member, Tapan Ghosh. was later detained by police for questioning, while three activists were arrested for the attack on the journalists. DC South and Jt Commissioner of Police (Crime) Praveen Kumar Tripathi later said inquiry was on to find out how many were involved in the attack on the media.

The role of Tapan Ghosh is being examined, added Mr Tripathi. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the incident and said strict action would be taken against the accused persons. Leaders of several political parties criticized the outfit and the Sangh Parivar for organising an open religious conversion programme in the heart of the city.

CPI-M MLA Sujan Chakraborty said the incident clearly revealed how the state administration was pampering Hindu fundamentalist forces and organizations to destroy the secular tradition of the state. He held the Trinamul Congress solely responsible for the incident.

“Things have come to such a pass under the Trinamul regime that even media persons are being attacked by the fundamentalists openly in the state, where TMC claims that it is a secular political party. We condemn the attack on the media persons,” he said.

“Why did the Sangh Parivar outfit single out the media for its attack ? It was absolutely within the rights of the journalists to ask questions of the reported conversion and when they were attacked for this it means the organisation has something to hide,” Mr Chakraborty said.

Academics and poets also criticized the Hindu Samhati for unleashing attack on media persons. The outfit’s assistant secretary Sujit Maity said the police attacked their supporters without any provocation. “We were celebrating our tenth foundation day.

No person was forcibly converted to Hinduism, but the police acted in a partisan manner and picked up our founder member Tapan Ghosh and later detained him at the police headquarters at Lalbazar. No activists of our organisation attacked any media representatives or police,” claimed Mr Maity.

BJP state secretary Raju Banerjee said the party had no details of the incident. “If anybody takes law in his hand, he will be punished. But until we know the entire details of the incident we can’t comment on it,” he said.