After blocking goods vehicles from crossing the border at the Petrapole land port last week, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari reached the Ghojadanga land port in North 24 Parganas where a Hindutva organisation organised a similar blockade on Tuesday to protest the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in Bangladesh.
Taking cue from the call given by Adhikari, who is the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal, the Bangiya Hindu Raksha Samiti organised the strike today to protest “inhuman oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh, against desecration of Indian national flag and demanding the release of Swami Chinmoy Prabhu”.
Near the border, protesters dressed in saffron led a march with the Indian national flag. A significant number of women were among the participants. They carried saffron flags with ‘Om’ and ‘Jai Shree Ram’ inscribed on them.
At a rally about two kilometres away from the border, Adhikari said, “After Petrapole, Hindus are showing their might today at Ghojadanga border. You are true Indians. Export vehicles have been stopped at this route.”
Adopting his characteristic aggressive tone, which has intensified since the arrest of the Hindu monk in Bangladesh, the BJP leader warned that the one-day blockade of goods vehicles at the Ghojadanga border was “just a trailer”. On Human Rights Day, he accused Bangladesh of widespread human rights violations.
LoP Adhikari also responded to provocative remarks by Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, who claimed that former Bangladeshi army personnel could capture Kolkata within four days if given the opportunity.
“If we stop sending 97 products, they won’t be able to earn their food and clothes. If the electricity generated in Jharkhand isn’t transmitted through Farakka, 80 per cent of the villages [in Bangladesh] will remain without power. He threatens to take over Calcutta, but we know how to respond firmly,” the MLA from Purba Medinipur’s Nandigram claimed.