VHP holds country-wide protests against Murshidabad violence, demands President’s Rule in Bengal

NEW DELHI: The Vishva Hindu Parishad on Saturday staged protests in different parts of the country against the recent communal violence in West Bengal’s Murshidabad over the amendments made to the Waqf law, demanding immediate imposition of President’s Rule in the state.

The protests were held in Murshidabad, Delhi and Noida, among other places, with VHP members claiming a complete breakdown of law and order in the Mamata Banerjee-ruled state where clashes claimed at least three lives last week.

In Delhi’s Nangloi Chowk, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) general secretary Bajrang Bagda led a protest condemning the violence in West Bengal.

Accusing the Trinamool Congress government of orchestrating the violence in Murshidabad, Bagda claimed, “When members of the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women reached Murshidabad, police blocked their entry and detained Hindus so that they don’t present their case before the two bodies.

“President’s Rule is the only solution to keep the Hindu society safe (in West Bengal) because the state government has failed to maintain law and order due to its politics of Muslim appeasement.”

In Noida, the VHP took out a rally led by its national spokesperson Vinod Bansal, raising slogans against the Trinamool Congress government in Bengal.

“Protests were held at multiple locations across the country, barring Punjab, because the Trinamool Congress is carrying out a cycle of oppression and repression of Hindus in connivance with Bangladeshi-Rohingya infiltrators,” Bansal told PTI.

“The recent incident of violence in Murshidabad was only a ‘gruesome form’ of the ongoing oppression (of Hindus) in Bengal under Trinamool’s watch.

“In Bangladesh, what began as protests against reservation eventually went on to target Hindus. But we will not tolerate such Bangladeshi mindset in our country,” Bansal said.

The VHP demands immediate imposition of President’s Rule in West Bengal, fencing of borders in the state, adequate compensation to the victims of violence in Murshidabad, and safety of Hindus, he said.

“The VHP also demands that land grabbing in the name of Waqf be immediately stopped and a high-level inquiry be ordered into the properties acquired in the name of Waqf,” Bansal said.

“We also demand that authorities identify the Bangladeshi-Rohingya infiltrators in West Bengal and drive them out (of the country). Strictest action should be taken against the perpetrators of violence in Murshidabad,” he said, adding that the VHP will hold similar protests across Delhi and Punjab on Monday.

Speaking to PTI Videos, Bansal claimed that Hindus are being compelled to flee their homes in Murshidabad where a father-son-duo was brutally murdered only because they made idols.

“We wonder from where such hatred against Hindus comes. The chief minister there invites ‘jihadi’ forces for meetings but doesn’t utter a word on the atrocities against Hindus. We condemn the way Hindus are being targeted in the name of Waqf,” the VHP spokesperson told PTI Videos.

A similar protest was staged in Murshidabad condemning the “targeted” violence that rocked the district last week.

Speaking to PTI Videos, a VHP leader part of the protest said, “We are going to write to the president of India, requesting her to intervene in the volatile and volcanic situation prevailing in Bengal with the active support of the state government and its police force.

“Around 500 families in Murshidabad have been compelled to leave their homes and take refuge in a school in Malda. We demand an NIA inquiry into the matter and immediate imposition of President’s Rule in Bengal.”