Days after violence erupted in West Bengal’s Murshidabad over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, security forces kept a strict vigil to prevent any fresh tensions in the district on Tuesday, officials said.
As the security was heightened in violence-hit areas of Murshidabad, life was limping back to normal in the district. Personnel of the BSF, CRPF, State Armed Police, and RAF have been deployed in large numbers in Jangipur, Dhuliyan, Suti, and Shamsherganj, where no new incident of violence was reported in the past 48 hours, they said.
The state police said the situation in riot-hit parts of Murshidabad is gradually returning to normal, with shops reopening and displaced families starting to come back. Violent protests erupted on Friday and Saturday in pockets of the district, including Suti, Dhulian, and Jangipur, following anger over the amended Waqf Act. The demonstrations soon escalated into clashes, leaving at least three people dead and several injured.
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1. On Monday, a BSF delegation led by Additional Director General (East) Ravi Gandhi visited Suti, Samserganj, and Dhulian, some of the worst-affected pockets in the Muslim-majority district, which witnessed widespread unrest over the weekend. “A joint strategy has been chalked out with senior police officers to increase patrolling in the area. We are working in close coordination with the state police to ensure the return of normalcy,” he said.
2. A total of 210 people have so far been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said. Meanwhile, vehicular traffic movement was normal along the Basanti Highway in the Bhangar area in South 24 Parganas district, which witnessed fresh episodes of Waqf Act-related violence on Monday, they said.
3. Supporters of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) had clashed with the police at Bhangar on Monday, leading to several injuries, vandalism of public properties, and the torching of multiple police vehicles.
4. The clashes erupted when police stopped ISF supporters from heading towards Ramlila Maidan in central Kolkata to attend an anti-Waqf Act rally addressed by party leader and Bhangar MLA Naushad Siddique.
5. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the opposition over their silence on the violence in West Bengal’s Murshidabad.
6. During the inauguration of various development projects at the Amar Senani Raja Narpati Singh Memorial site in the Hardoi district, he referred to the ongoing communal tensions in Bengal, where Hindus were attacked during protests against the Waqf Act.
7. CM Yogi lambasted political opponents for what he called “selective outrage” and “appeasement politics”.
8. The leader of the opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Tuesday, launched a scathing attack against CPI(M) on the issue of Murshidabad violence, saying that the compulsion of opposition INDIA bloc was preventing it from criticizing Trinamool Congress even though two CPI(M) activists have been killed.
9. Adhikari referred to the killing of Hargobindo Das and Chandan Das, the father and the son at Samserganj in the Murshidabad district last week, whom CPI(M) state secretary in West Bengal and politburo member Md Salim had identified as active party workers.
10. The LoP accused the CPI(M) politburo member of giving misleading statements about the circumstances under which the father and the son were killed.
