The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) organising general secretary Milind Parande Thursday demanded imposition of President’s Rule in West Bengal and accused the Mamata Banerjee-led government “for not taking steps to protect the Hindus”.
West Bengal witnessed widespread protests over the new Waqf law in the past few days, which turned violent in parts.
At a press conference in Goa, Parande said: “Violence has taken place on a large scale against the Hindus in Murshidabad. Everyone has the right to protest peacefully. But violence is being perpetrated against the Hindus. Thousands of people have had to leave Murshidabad and have now been exiled in their own country. Similar violence has occurred in Malda, similar violence took place at some places in Siliguri”.
He further said: “And the kind of threats that people sitting in the government are issuing…Mamata Banerjee is only giving lip service ‘by appealing to maintain peace’. But the ministers of their own government are making such provocative statements. A worrying situation is developing in West Bengal. An attempt is being made to remove Hindus from Murshidabad by using the Waqf issue. The state government is not taking any steps to protect Hindus. Whatever be the reason (for the violence)…the people in power have a responsibility to protect all the citizens of the state”.
Parande said the VHP had taken a decision to hold demonstrations in all the districts across the country on April 19 to condemn the violence. “In all the districts, through the [respective] collectors, we will submit a memorandum and request that President’s Rule be imposed in West Bengal soon, since the state government is not fulfilling its responsibility to protect the society…to protect the Hindus,” he added.
Parande also expressed “concern” about a demographic change in Goa.
“There is an issue of an imbalance in Hindu population, which is prevalent across the country…Some months ago, the [Goa] Governor had also mentioned this in a speech…that the percentage of Christian population in the state has declined and a simultaneous result has been that the percentage of Muslim population has substantially increased. I have been meeting some people here and this has come to the fore in discussions. It appears to some that people from Muslim community, who are coming from other states, are being systematically settled in some Vidhan Sabha constituencies as part of a plan. This is a matter of concern,” he said.
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