Murshidabad violence: TMC alleges fake photos in circulation; BJP claims religious persecution

Kolkata: As photographs and videos of people purportedly from violence-hit Murshidabad district in West Bengal surfaced on social media, the ruling TMC on Sunday cried conspiracy claiming those were fake, while the opposition BJP alleged that people are fleeing as “religious persecution is real” in the state.

At least three people were killed, several others injured and a number of shops torched after protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act turned violent in Suti and Samserganj blocks of Murshidabad district. Hundreds of people also started to flee those areas since the violence began on Friday.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh alleged that the BJP is flooding the internet with fake photos and fake videos of violence and arson, and passing them off as happening in West Bengal.

Sharing a post of the state BJP containing photographs depicting violence during nine Hindu festivals “in West Bengal”, Ghose claimed in an X post that none of those incidents happened in the state, listing the specific locations.

“This is BJP's campaign of lies, communal polarisation, and politics of incitement,” she claimed and urged the police to take action.

Ghoshe said, "The violence in Murshidabad has been deeply unfortunate. The Bengal government is clear no one will be allowed to take law into their hands and violence will be met with strict punishment, irrespective of community or religious identity of the perpetrators. However, the BJP, at the moment, is engaging in the politics of religious polarisation and incitement.” The photographs depicting violence are unrelated incidents that happened in various other places including Assam, Lucknow, Jalandhar and Karnataka, Kunal Ghosh claimed.

“Political parties that cannot win democratically are indulging in such plots to disturb peace,” Ghosh said, alleging that the BJP was also misusing central agencies.

The TMC leaders’ remarks came in response to BJP’s accusation that radical elements had been emboldened under the TMC’s rule, leading to targeted attacks on Hindus in Murshidabad district.

“More than 400 Hindus from Dhulian, Murshidabad driven by fear of religiously driven bigots were forced to flee across the river & take shelter at Par Lalpur High School, Deonapur-Sovapur GP, Baisnabnagar, Malda. Religious persecution in Bengal is real,” West Bengal’s Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari claimed in a post.

“Appeasement politics of TMC has emboldened radical elements. Hindus are being hunted, our people are running for their lives in their own land! Shame on the State Govt for allowing this breakdown of law & order,” he claimed and urged the Central Paramilitary Forces deployed in Murshidabad, the state police and the district administration to ensure the safe return of these displaced people.

Holding that it cannot turn a blind eye to reports of vandalism in a few districts of West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court on Saturday ordered deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in Murshidabad district.

A special bench comprising Justices Soumen Sen and Raja Basu Chowdhury was constituted by the Chief Justice to urgently hear a petition filed by Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, seeking the deployment of central forces in the district.

Alleging that a particular community was being targeted by the protesters, BJP West Bengal state president Sukanta Majumdar on Saturday claimed that internet and other communication systems have been suspended in the affected areas, thus leaving the sufferers of violence without any mode of communicating their plight.

He had questioned the connection between opposition to the Waqf (Amendment) Act and the alleged targeting of homes, vehicles and shops of a particular section of people. Several vehicles, including police vans, were set on fire, shops and houses were vandalised, stones were hurled at security forces, and roads were blocked as violence rocked the district on Friday, they said.

Prohibitory orders under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) have been imposed in the violence-hit areas, and the internet has been suspended. BSF personnel have been deployed in strife-hit Suti, Dhuliyan and Samserganj areas of Murshidabad.

The police arrested 150-odd people in connection with the violence.