Union minister and Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar on Saturday called upon Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to strictly enforce the rule of law in trouble-torn pockets of Murshidabad district accusing her administration of choosing to look the other way as "Hindus are coming under attack" in Samserganj, Suti and Jangipur.
Asserting that once the BJP comes to power in the state, "such vandalism and goondaism resorted by a section of minorities" will be stopped and crushed in five minutes, Majumdar told reporters that 10 police personnel were injured and the BDO office was vandalised by a mob, as the "appeasement-driven state administration did not take appropriate steps."
The Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma commended the state police for keeping the Waqf protests largely violence free. Quoting Sarma’s post on X, Adhikari said, “Peace and harmony is elusive in Bengal because the ruling party is instigating violence to appease its vote bank and to divert attention from the matter of nearly 26,000 schoolteachers losing their jobs due to rampant corruption of the Trinamool party leaders and state ministers.”
Adhikari alleged the state police has been instructed not to take action against the perpetrators. “They are on a rampage because Mamata Banerjee is at their mercy. Unfortunately, her remote control is in the possession of the Jihadists, if she tries to act tough her power will be snatched by these elements.”
Claiming the ongoing protests might be orchestrated to divert focus from the spontaneous protests over the invalidation of jobs to 26,000 school teachers, Majumdar, the Union Minister of State for Education, said "The violence might be instigated for political reasons."
"Hindus believe in the true concept of secularism, pluralism as they are peace-loving and non-violent. But if efforts are made to drive out the Hindus from certain pockets in Murshidabad where Muslims are the majority, ordinary people of Bengal, Hindus of Bengal will turn around to save their dignity, honour and identity," he said.
Majumdar trashed a perception among a section of protesters that places of minority religious worship will also be taken over by the Waqf (Amendment) Act saying, "I can assure you any such information is false and misleading."
"Despite the fact that thousands of temples had been vandalised and converted in the past thousand years in this land, Hindus did not protest. Our religion does not talk about taking over places of worship of any other religion. The BJP government does not believe in such takeover policy. Has any of the protestors cared to go through the contents of the Waqf (Amendment) Act passed in parliament? I think neither the protestors on the street nor the persons remote-controlling them have any knowledge about details of the Act," he said.
Majumdar also called upon "ordinary Muslims to be wary of the influential leaders of the community belonging to TMC occupying Waqf properties in an unauthorised manner."
"These rich people are using you and looting you as you (ordinary Muslims) reel under poverty and lack of education due to the wrong policies of the state government," he said.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari demanded the chief minister’s resignation in the wake of the continuing violence in Murshidabad holding her responsible.
“If you have any shame left you must resign. You are trying to reap political benefits while the state is burning. You gave the provocation. Now that the situation has gone out of your control you are calling for peace,” Adhikari wrote on his X handle.
“They have clearly stated you depend on them and not vice versa. Your MPs and MLAs have lost all control. Murshidabad, Malda is now run by PFI, SIMI and other terrorist organisations.”
Countering BJP's narrative, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh told reporters "Certain vested interests are trying to instigate some people. Don't fall into their traps. They want to play with your emotions to suit their political agenda."
Ghosh called upon people of every community to maintain peace and amity which had been the long-cherished tradition of West Bengal for years.
He said the violence has been plotted by certain vested interests and agencies to create instability in Bengal.
Fresh violence was reported on Saturday from West Bengal's Murshidabad district with one person receiving a bullet wound, police said.
The incident happened in Dhulian in the Samserganj block of the Muslim-majority district. Large-scale violence was reported on Friday from the Suti and Samserganj areas of the district during protests over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, they said.
Following Friday's violence, the BSF was deployed in a few areas of the district, which shares a border with Bangladesh.
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