West Bengal: Demand to implement AFSPA in border districts of Bengal, MP said- Hindus are being targeted

Tight security arrangements in West Bengal – Photo: PTI

The MP wrote that ‘Bengali Hindus are facing the same fear and violence as Kashmiri Pandits faced in 1990. If we do not take steps now, history can be repeated again, but this time it will not happen in the valley but in Bengal.’

West Bengal is in the grip of violence due to the protests against the Waqf Act. Meanwhile, a BJP MP has written a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding the implementation of The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) law in the border districts of Bengal. BJP MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato has made this demand. He has written in the letter that the border districts of Bengal should be declared disturbed areas under the AFSPA law because Hindus are being repeatedly attacked in these districts.

‘Law and order collapsed in violence-affected areas’
Jyotirmay Singh Mahato, MP from Purulia Lok Sabha seat of West Bengal, wrote in a letter to the Home Minister that ‘the situation in many districts of Bengal, especially in Murshidabad, is very worrying. Law and order has collapsed and Hindus are being targeted. Due to the politics of appeasement, the TMC government is not taking any action.’ The MP claimed that ‘more than 86 shops and houses of the Hindu community have been looted and vandalized in Murshidabad district itself. Similar incidents have happened in Malda, Nadia and South 24 Parganas. Communal riots are happening here repeatedly. Opposition leaders are not being allowed to go to violence-affected areas. The Calcutta High Court has intervened and after that central forces could be deployed in the violence-affected areas. From this, the law and order situation in the state can be easily gauged.’

‘There may be an exodus from Bengal like the Kashmir Valley’
The MP wrote that ‘Bengali Hindus are facing the same fear and violence as Kashmiri Pandits faced in 1990. If we do not take steps now, history can be repeated again, but this time it will not happen in the valley but in Bengal.’ The MP demanded the implementation of AFSPA Act 1958 in the border districts of the state, especially Murshidabad, Malda, Nadia and South 24 Parganas.

Under the AFSPA law, armed forces are deployed in disturbed areas. Under this law, the armed forces get the right to kill any person violating the law, make arrests and search any premises without a warrant. And also ensures protection from prosecution and legal cases without the approval of the central government.