The victims complained of horrific living conditions, lack of medicines, baby food and proper food.
NEW DELHI: Hindus who fled their homes following anti-Waqf riots in Murshidabad have narrated horrific tales of woe to the members of the National Commission for Women (NCW) which rushed a four-member team to investigate the prevailing conditions. On Friday and Saturday, the team met riot victims who crossed over the Hooghly river from the worst-hit Dhuliyan and Samsherganj areas in Murshidabad to take shelter in the neighbouring district of Malda. They also recounted how the Mamata Banerjee administration refused to take preventive action. Rather, they worked overtime to increase the miseries of those who fled their homes and took shelter in a makeshift camp. The victims complained of horrific living conditions, lack of medicines, baby food and proper food at the camp. The National Human Rights Commission also sent a fact-finding team.
Hundreds of people from Murshidabad are housed in makeshift relief camps, including the Par Lalpur High School camp in Baishnabnagar in Malda. National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar, accompanied with member Archana Majumdar, and two other colleagues met the families affected by the Murshidabad violence at the shelter camp.
“The situation is extremely distressing. We feel their pain and suffering,” Rahatkar said.
Vijaya Rahatkar reached the residence of the father and son duo in Jafrabad, who were killed in the violence. Rahatkar said: “These people are in so much pain, that I am speechless right now. I don’t have the words to describe their pain. The suffering these people are going through is inhuman. We will put their demands in front of the government.”
“Victims told us about the terror which they were subjected to since last Friday. They said that the local imams had announced plans for a massive anti-Waqf protest after the Jumma prayers. It was this protest which suddenly started vandalising and setting fire to houses, eateries and shops run by Hindus,” recounted Archana Majumdar.
“…Some woman lost her husband, some lost their son. People were dragged out of their homes and butchered. This is horrific. I don’t know if such incidents have ever happened in West Bengal before. We have seen all of this for the first time. This is unacceptable. The Mamata Banerjee government must take the responsibility for this…” she told The Sunday Guardian.
“We have all seen visuals of police trying to save themselves from the mobs by locking themselves into some shops. How can such a cowardly police force save the Hindus?” she added.
The victims said that ever since they took shelter in Malda district, the state police has been hounding them to go back. “The police has been pressurising the victims to leave the camp and go back. But the victims who have lost their homes and hearth want a permanent BSF camp to be set up for their safety. They have no confidence in the local police and administration. Yesterday, they held placards demanding that the BSF camp be set up before they return,” Majumdar said.
The refugees also accused the state police and administration of suspending ferry services between Dhulian and Baishnabnagar to stop the influx. They complained about lack of medicines, baby food and proper food at the camp.
While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she would visit the area “later” and advised West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose not to visit the disturbed areas “in the interests of maintaining calm”, the Governor ignored it. However, on Friday, Trinamool politicians came together with community elders to hold a peace rally in Shamsherganj. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, MLAs Amirul Islam and Bayron Biswas, Jangipur MP Khalilur Rehman joined the peace rally.
In a surprise move, the Governor boarded a passenger train from Sealdah to reach Malda Town. Raj Bhavan sources said that the decision was taken following inputs that the Governor’s convoy could be obstructed at different spots if it proceeded by road.
On Friday and Saturday, the Governor met residents who have taken shelter in the temporary refugee camp. “I met the family members who are at the camp here. They have briefed me in detail. Proactive action will certainly be taken,” Bose said.
“The women said miscreants came and attacked their houses, looted their property and forcibly evicted them,” he said.
The Trinamool Congress is spewing fire on the Governor, the NCW and the NHRC for visiting the trouble-torn areas.
Dubbing Governor C.V. Ananda Bose’s act as “irresponsible”, the Trinamool Congress on Friday asked if the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women travel bills and allowances were approved only if they had flight tickets to Bengal.
The TMC alleged that the visits on Friday by Bose, NHRC and NCW were part of a “scripted plot” to malign Bengal when it was clear that “cross-border miscreants were responsible for instigating the Murshidabad violence.”
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, responding to questions on Bose travelling to Murshidabad (he went to Malda on Friday) despite Mamata Banerjee’s appeal against it, said: “This was an irresponsible act. The CM never asked him not to go. She clearly stated that efforts are on to bring peace. He could have always gone, but later.
“The CM herself could have gone there now but did not. She will go at the right time. This tearing hurry to go by the Governor is only part of the larger plot to malign Bengal. His political bosses wanted that. He (the Governor) is just a dramatis personae.”
Ghosh was equally vocal against the NHRC and NCW visits. “I just have one question. Are their travel bills and allowances approved only if they have flight tickets to Bengal? Manipur is on the boil for over a year now. People there witnessed unspeakable brutalities and atrocities, including clashes, rape and murder. They (the commissions) never went there. Their tour itineraries always tend to skip BJP-governed states. In Varanasi—PM Narendra Modi’s constituency—there were brutalities. Did they enquire once?” Ghosh asked.
“One thing relating to the Murshidabad violence is very clear. Even the Centre’s agencies admitted it. There have been cross-border movements. Bangladeshi miscreants sneaked in, stoked flames and fled. Who guards the borders? Will they probe the role of BSF and MHA? Unless they do, it would be very apparent that they too are part of this plot. The idea is to stoke fire, target one section of the people by making another section weep and then rush them to keep fanning the flames to malign Bengal. They are only puppets; their political puppeteers control all their strings,” Ghosh added
Archana Majumdar, accompanying Rahatkar, alleged that women were molested and driven out of their homes. “It is the state government’s responsibility to ensure their safety. What is the TMC doing? Is the state government trying to turn Bengal into another Bangladesh?” she said.