Murshidabad (West Bengal) [India], January 17 : Violence erupted in Murshidabad, West Bengal, on Saturday, as locals protested the lynching of migrant labourers in Bihar.
Protesters from Beldanga Block Road blocked roads, demanding justice for the victims. Security forces were deployed to restore order.
On Friday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) double-engine government of violence against migrant workers in their respective states. Her remarks come amid rising reports of mob lynching incidents in Bihar.
Banerjee highlighted the alleged death of a worker in Bihar, stating, "One person was beaten to death in Bihar yesterday. Migrant workers are being tortured every day wherever there is the BJP's double-engine government".
She sharply accused the BJP-led goverment for these cases, claiming, "They are killing our people. Nothing could be worse than this".
CM Mamata Banerjee also attended an event that laid the foundation stone for the proposed Mahakal Temple in Siliguri and levelled similar accusations against the BJP during her address.
The Chief Minister asserted that workers from West Bengal are often being specifically targeted for merely speaking Bengali.
"Bengali-speaking migrant workers are being tortured in BJP-ruled states. Migrant workers are living peacefully in West Bengal without any harassment. Why are Bengali-speaking workers being targeted elsewhere?... They are beaten up in Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, or Bihar," she accused.
In Patna, the Commission expressed deep concern over the tragic and worrying reports of mob lynching frequently emerging from the state and demanded prompt and effective action from the state government. In this regard, the Commission Chairman, Maulana Ghulam Rasool Balyawi, sent a letter to the Chief Secretary of the Government of Bihar and the Director General of Police.
According to the Commission, viral videos on social media and news published in various newspapers and channels make it clear that in several districts of Bihar, mobs are targeting people for violence based on rumours and religious identity by labelling them as "Bangladeshis," which is highly condemnable.
The letter mentions several key incidents, stating that Mohammad Athar Hussain, a resident of Gagan Diwan village in the Laheri police station area of Nalanda district, who traded clothes as a peddler in Nawada district, fell victim to mob lynching and died during treatment.
Similarly, an attempt was made by a mob to attack an elderly Muslim man in Muzaffarpur district. Additionally, Mohammad Murshid Alam, a resident of Supaul district, was brutally beaten and seriously injured in Tichka village under the Rajnagar police station area of Madhubani district, the release noted.