Agartala: Hundreds of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal members staged a protest rally in Agartala, demanding intervention of the Indian government against what they claimed were increasing atrocities on minority Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh.
The protesters alleged that since the removal of the Sheikh Hasina government in August last year, incidents of targeted violence against Hindus in Bangladesh have escalated.
VHP Tripura chapter Secretary Sankar Ray said that the situation had worsened over the past several months, prompting repeated protests in Tripura.
“The entire world is aware that large-scale atrocities are being carried out against Hindus in Bangladesh. Six to seven months ago, we demonstrated in front of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission here. Now, targeted violence has become regular in the neighbouring country,” Ray told the media.
He further alleged that only recently, two media houses were set ablaze, vandalised several prominent cultural organisations’ offices and that a Hindu youth, Dipu Chandra Das, was killed by a radical mob on what he described as false allegations.
The 27-year-old Das, 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 in Mymensingh.
He was accused of blasphemy by a coworker, following which the murderous mob, comprising radicals and extremist elements, barged into the factory, dragged him to the streets and killed him ruthlessly.
The VHP leader said the protest was organised to draw the attention of the Indian government to these incidents.
Ray urged the Indian government to take “direct action” to protect Hindus in Bangladesh and demanded strong measures against radical forces.
He also appealed on humanitarian grounds for the Indian government to allow free passage for marginalised Hindus from Chittagong, who, he claimed, were living under open skies, to enter Tripura and live with dignity.
Wednesday’s protest rally began from the Agartala Town Hall area and was scheduled to proceed towards the Integrated Check post in the Agartala-Akhaura (Bangladesh) border.
However, large contingents of police led by senior officials have stopped the march about a kilometre ahead of the border check post, near the police headquarters, citing security concerns.
A brief scuffle took place between VHP and Bajrang Dal protesters and police personnel during the attempt to move forward, though the situation was later brought under control.
No injuries were reported in the scuffle. In the past few days, this has been the third protest rally in Agartala against Bangladesh, which surrounds Tripura from three sides with an 856-km-long international border.
Earlier last week, the youth wing of the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), an ally of the ruling BJP, in Tripura and Sanatani Hindu Sena activists separately held protest demonstrations near the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission (AHC) in Agartala, condemning the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh and recent remarks by leaders of the neighbouring country allegedly claiming India’s Northeast region.
Many organisations and political parties in Tripura condemned the alleged lynching of a Hindu man in the neighbouring country and accused the interim government in Bangladesh of failing to curb atrocities against religious minorities.
TMP’s youth wing Youth Tipra Federation (YTF) President Suraj Debbarma, who led the protests on December 19, had said that National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Hasnat Abdullah, Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government and other leaders of that country have been continuously making baseless and manufactured “anti-India” comments and encouraging activities hostile to India.
Debbarma had said that over the past few days, protests and demonstrations have been held in front of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and at other places in Bangladesh, where participants allegedly raised “anti-India” slogans.
“NCP leader Hasnat Abdullah earlier this week reportedly claimed that they would capture India’s ‘Seven Sisters’ and the Siliguri Corridor and make the region part of their country,” he added.
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