Is West Bengal, next Kashmir? Hindu Families Flee Murshidabad Violence, Seek Shelter in Malda Amid Waqf Act Protests.

Communal scourge of Waqf stir: Hindu victims of Murshidabad-Dhulian  don’t know how long they will have to stay in the camp in Malda-Kaliachak.

Subhro Basu | HENB | Kolkata | April 14, 2025:: The place where the villagers live during the disastrous rainy season or cyclone as rescue center is now their shelter to take refuge being displaced in the communal Waqf protests by Radical Muslims . They are Hindu residents of Dhulian in Murshidabad district on the other side of the Ganges. But they left that area, which was heated up due to the protest movement against the amended Waqf Act, and took shelter in Parlalpur village in Kaliachak 3 block of Malda. From Saturday morning to Sunday night, Parlalpur High School is the shelter for more than four hundred people, including children and women, who came from Betbona, Bazarpara or Hatichitra areas of Dhulian’s ward number 16. These Hindu victims of Murshidabad-Dhulian  don’t know how long they will have to stay in the camp in Malda Kaliachak.

Thirty-year-old Saptami Mandal gave birth to a son seven days ago at the Anupnagar Primary Health Center in Dhulian. She went to her father’s house in the Betbona area of ​​the area with the newborn. The Betbona area became heated since Friday afternoon. Saptami said, “A group of Muslim goons looted, set fire to, and bombed several Hindu houses. With a few clothes in a bag, my child, and my mother, I came to the Ganga Ghat in Dhulian and reached here by dingy, a kind of  country boat.”

 Kanchan Mandal, a resident of Betbonah, who reached Parlalpur by the same route, said, “The Muslim miscreants set fire to a neighbor’s house. They bombed. They looted. Two boys and a girl. I couldn’t stay at home taking the risk.”

Kalicharan Mandal, a resident of Hatichitra, said, “The internet service is down in our district, even mobile phones are not working. I don’t have the courage to go back.”

Since Saturday afternoon, mainly children and women started coming to Parlalpur from Dhulian in small country boats. On Sunday,  the school premises had practically become a relief camp. The residents of Parlalpur village extended a helping hand to the people coming from Murshidabad. They also arranged food. Nitai Chowdhury, one of the camp’s organizers, said, “Many families in the village have relatives living in Shamserganj and Dhulian. They are coming here one by one.”

On Sunday morning, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Malda Sadar) Paraj Tamang and BDO Sukanta Sikdar provided dry food packets and relief materials to the refugees. However, BJP’s Malda South Organizational District President Ajay Gangopadhyay claimed, “Food arrangements have been made by the BJP. The administration has no role for it.”

In the evening, a Trinamool delegation including Vaishnavnagar Trinamool MLA Chandana Sarkar and Zilla Parishad President Lipika Barman Ghosh went to the area. MLA Chandana said, “Around 400 people from Dhulian have taken shelter here. Food is being provided on the initiative of the administration.”

Moumita Saha, a resident of Hatichitra Mor in Dhulian, said, “I have never seen such lawlessness in the area before. I don’t know how long we will have to stay in this camp now!”

Jangipur Police District Superintendent Anand Roy, however, said, “If those who left their homes due to the unrest want to return home, we are ready to provide all kinds of help. The police are ready to provide you with security.”

.Though now under control, WB saw a severe Islamic unrest during Waqf Amendment protest since Friday last. Attacks upon the Hindus by the radical Muslims in the Waqf row had reached an unbelievable scale of  persecution. The situations of Dhulianganj, Samsherganj, Suti  Jalangi and Jangipur were also reported tense and heavy police deployment was made to control the situation. sporadic Islamic hooliganism also touched some places in other districts like Howrah, Malda, and North Dinajpur.

After BJP MLA and leader of opposition in WB Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari’s  petition filed in the Calcutta High Court for its intervention. the Hon’ble Court  ordered the central force deployment in the affected areas  of Murshidabad.

Is West Bengal turning slowly as Kashmir valley? Bengali Hindus are now being displaced as it was happened to the Kashmiri Pundits 35 yrs ago in much horrific way of killings, rape and torture.
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_Inputs from Anandabazar Patrika.