Kolkata: Hoteliers’ associations in two districts of West Bengal, on Friday, have decided to close the doors of their hotels and lodges as a mark of protest against the recent lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, a Hindu garment factory worker, and also over the unbridled atrocities on the minorities under the Muhammad Yunus regime.
Although the hoteliers’ associations in both districts are yet to decide whether this decision will be applicable in case of Bangladeshi tourists coming to India with medical visas for treatment purposes, the majority of members of both associations are in favour of including this category of Bangladeshi tourists under this ban.
The two districts where the respective hoteliers’ associations have taken this decision are Darjeeling and Malda, both in the northern sector of West Bengal and both having international borders with Bangladesh.
However, the border area in the Darjeeling district is relatively smaller than the one in the minority-dominated Malda district.
The local chambers of commerce in both these districts have welcomed the decisions of both the hoteliers’ associations.
According to the Malda Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association secretary, Krishenendu Chowdhury, the decision to refuse room allotment for Bangladeshi owners was taken unanimously by all the members of our association.
“Currently, there is not a single Bangladeshi tourist in any of the hotels in our district. We are yet to decide whether this ban will also apply to the Bangladeshi tourists coming with a medical visa for treatment purposes. We will have another round of meetings soon and take a decision on this count,” Chowdhury said.
While the hoteliers’ association in Malda was yet to decide, their fellow association in the Darjeeling district, christened Siliguri Hoteliers’ Welfare Association, has decided to include Bangladeshi tourists coming on medical visas and students’ visas under this ban.
“The manner in which the leaders in Bangladesh are making insensitive statements on the Siliguri Corridor, Chicken Neck Sector and Seven Sisters, is highly objectionable. At the same time, at the same time, unbridled atrocities on the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh have reached an extreme level,” said the Association Secretary Ujjal Ghosh.
Earlier this week, the entire country erupted in protest over the brutal killing of Das and over unbridled atrocities on the minorities under the Muhammad Yunus regime.
From Delhi to Kolkata to Bhopal to Hyderabad, a wave of public anger and wrath spilt onto the streets as Hindu outfits hit the streets denouncing the targeted attack on minorities in the neighbouring nation.
The 25-year-old Hindu man, who worked in a garment factory in Bangladesh, was dragged on the streets, brutally thrashed to death by a frenzied mob, and then his lifeless body was set ablaze after being tied to a tree. He was accused of blasphemy by a co-worker, following which the murderous mob, comprising radicals and extremist elements, barged into the factory, dragged him to the streets, and killed him ruthlessly.
(IANS)
