Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Suvendu Adhikari said he will petition the Calcutta High Court for the extension of the deployment of Central forces in the violence-hit areas of Murshidabad.
Currently, troops of both the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been deployed in the Samsherganj police station area following a Calcutta High Court order on April 12.
On April 11 and April 12, a mob of protestors agitating against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, torched and vandalised houses and shops across Dhulian municipality and Tinpakuria Gram Panchayat under the Samsherganj police station area in Murshidabad. A father-son duo, Hargobind Das and Chandan Das, were killed in communal violence outside their home in Sasmherganj’s Jafrabad.
“Although a total of 17 companies of both the BSF and CRPF are present there up to May 15, I will make a plea to the High Court for the extension for their stay in Murshidabad unless a permanent arrangement is made before that,” Mr Adhikari said on Monday.
He claimed that the counsels who appeared for the West Bengal government in the Calcutta High Court hearings since April 12 have consistently opposed the deployment of Central forces as well as the extension of their stay in Murshidabad.
“[The State government] wants Central Forces to leave the area immediately. But people belonging to the Trinamool’s votebank have carried out torture across ten places in the Lalpur, Jafrabad, Betbona, Dhulian areas by arson, vandalism, loot and murder,” Mr Adhikari alleged. He added that 900 shops and houses across these ten places were allegedly destroyed.
The Opposition leader also said that the affected people of the area have one primary demand: a permanent deployment of Central Forces in the area.
“The people have said that they do not want monetary compensation, but they want safety. They do not believe that the State police can protect them. The affected community is only 16-18% of the population, and they have said repeatedly that they cannot continue living there without a permanent BSF camp. They are surviving because Central Forces are there now,” Mr Adhikari said.
Highlighting that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also in charge of the police, he alleged that while the violence unfolded, the local police did not take any action to protect the residents.
Published – May 06, 2025 12:05 pm IST
