KOLKATA: West Bengal Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari spearheaded a high-voltage protest march to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission here on Friday, demanding an immediate end to the alleged persecution of Hindus in the neighbouring country. Accompanied by five Hindu monks and around 1000 supporters including seers and Naga sadhus, Adhikari met Deputy High Commissioner Sikder Mohammad Ashrafur Rahman, raising the recent lynching of Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das in Mymensingh and a spate of temple vandalism and attacks.
The demonstrations, part of a week-long BJP-led agitation since December 22, underscore the party’s aggressive mobilisation on the issue amid escalating cross-border tensions. “I sent a clear message to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner that we will not sit idle if two crore Hindus in Bangladesh face trouble in their own country. Today, we expressed our concerns and demanded that the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh be stopped,” Adhikari told reporters after the meeting.
He claimed Bangladeshi officials assured no bail for Das’s accused killers until judicial proceedings concluded, but dismissed their responses as evasive: “They had no answer to most of my questions”. The Nandigram MLA issued a stark warning, invoking a massive escalation: “If the atrocities against Hindus do not stop, I will come in January with five lakh Hindu monks and saints, after they return from the Gangasagar Mela, to break all such barricades and reach the Bangladesh deputy high commission”.
Adhikari reserved sharp criticism for the Mamata Banerjee Government, equating and accusing it of siding of those who perpetrated the atrocities on Hindus by erecting iron barricades around the commission. “Mamata Banerjee’s Government and police is putting up iron barricades to stop Hindus from protesting outside the Deputy High Commission office… The Government here is protecting Bangladeshi atyacharis (oppressors),” he charged, linking Dhaka’s unrest to Bengal’s “regime”. Adhikari framed the crisis as validation for Citizenship Amendment Act, invoking his mother’s 1971 flight from Bangladesh atrocities.
The protests follow police lathi-charge on December 23, which arrested 19 demonstrators including seven women, drawing BJP ire over alleged minority appeasement. The Kolkata standoff caps a series of BJP actions spotlighting Hindu plight post-Sheikh Hasina’s 2024 ouster. Demonstrations erupted after Das’s December 20 killing with BJP workers gheraoing the commission daily. On Friday, Adhikari’s delegation navigated heavy security, while chanting slogans for minority safety, while supporters waved tricolours and placards decrying “Hindu genocide”. Earlier, on December 21, BJP Yuva Morcha in North 24 Parganas burnt tyres protesting arson on Hindu homes.
In north Bengal, BJP leaders fuelled parallel mobilisations; Siliguri saw a massive torchlight rally on December 26, with thousands burning effigies of Bangladesh interim chief Muhammad Yunus and raising “stop Hindu killings” cries. Hooghly’s Arambagh hosted a march led by Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar, blending local grievances with Bangladesh focus. Guwahati BJP echoed: “The atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh must end immediately… We want to warn the Bangladesh Government to ensure the safety and security of all religious minorities”.
