Kolkata, Apr 13 (PTI) Paramilitary forces patrolled parts of Murshidabad district which witnessed violent protests on Friday and Saturday over the Waqf (Amendment) Act as the situation remained tense but under control while political parties traded charges for aggravating the situation, officials said.
Three people have died and several others injured in the violence which raged in Suti, Dhulian, Samserganj and Jangipur areas since Friday afternoon but there was no report of any fresh incident from anywhere in the district.
Personnel of BSF accompanied by state armed police and RAF conducted route marches along the national highway and nearby alleys and bylanes.
“The situation in Suti, Dhulian, Samserganj and Jangipur areas of the district is peaceful. Raids continued overnight, and 12 more people were arrested. With this, 150 people have been arrested so far,” a senior police officer said.
Prohibitory orders under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) remain in force in the violence-hit pockets where the roads wore a deserted look and shops downed their shutters.
The internet remains suspended in the affected areas while security forces are conducting checks on vehicles along the main roads.
Several vehicles, including police vans, were set on fire, stones were hurled at security forces and shops, and police kiosks burnt down during the rampage.
Bodies of a man and his son were found with multiple stab wounds at their home in Samserganj on Saturday. A 21-year-old man also died on Saturday after receiving bullet wounds during clashes in Suti on Friday.
At least 18 policemen were injured in the violence on Friday.
There were reports that a youth was shot at and injured near his residence at Dhulian. The police, however, did not confirm it. Congress MP Isha Khan Choudhury representing Maldaha Dakshin constituency, a part of which is Samserganj assembly segment, was not allowed by police to visit the area.
“It is crucial to bring all parties and community leaders together to address the root causes of this violence and restore peace in the region,” he said.
Senior state BJP leaders Suvendu Adhikari, Sukanta Majumdar Dilip Ghosh and judge-turned-MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Sunday walked in a rally in Kolkata to protest the “appeasement politics” of the ruling TMC.
Adhikari said his party will also seek a CBI investigation into the killing of a man and his son in Samserganj.
Several residents fled the violence-hit areas by crossing the Bhagirathi river and reached Malda. “More than 400 Hindus from Dhulian, Murshidabad driven by fear of religiously driven bigots were forced to flee across the river & take shelter at Par Lalpur High School, Deonapur-Sovapur GP, Baisnabnagar, Malda. Religious persecution in Bengal is real,” Adhikari claimed in an X post.
“Appeasement politics of TMC has emboldened radical elements. Hindus are being hunted, our people are running for their lives in their own land! Shame on the State Govt for allowing this breakdown of law & order,” he claimed.
Adhikari urged the authorities to ensure the safe return of these displaced people.
BJP MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and demanded imposing of AFSPA in Murshidabad and three other districts – Malda, Nadia and South 24 Parganas – in view of the prevailing situation.
“Bengal burning. Hindus bleeding….TMC appeasement has failed law and order. Like Kashmiri Pandits once, Bengali Hindus are being hunted,” Mahato said in a post.
Meanwhile, the ruling TMC cried conspiracy claiming that the BJP is flooding social media with fake photos and videos depicting violence in Bengal, which were actually incidents that happened in other states.
TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh alleged that a large section of rioters had been allowed to sneak into Murshidabad through the Indo-Bangla border and said the role of BSF is not above suspicion in the violence.
Sharing a post of the state BJP containing photographs depicting violence during nine Hindu festivals “in West Bengal”, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarka Ghose claimed in an X post that none of those incidents happened in the state, listing the specific locations.
“This is BJP’s campaign of lies, communal polarisation, and politics of incitement,” she claimed and urged the police to take action.
Ghosh said, “The violence in Murshidabad has been deeply unfortunate. The Bengal government is clear no one will be allowed to take law into their hands and violence will be met with strict punishment, irrespective of community or religious identity of the perpetrators. However, the BJP, at the moment, is engaging in the politics of religious polarisation and incitement.” In another development, Islamic clerics led by Imam Moulana Shafique of Nakhoda Masjid said, “Those who carried out attacks on innocent people cannot be part of any democratic protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Act. What they did goes against the tenets of Islam. Everyone has the right to observe and follow his own religion,” Shafique said. PTI SUS BSM SOM ACD NN
