Murshidabad (West Bengal), April 12: A day after violence erupted over the Centre’s newly-enacted Waqf law, eyewitnesses in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district painted a chilling picture, stating, that the police fled or hid in fear as mobs ran amok.
Following Friday Namaz, protesters in Shamsherganj and Dhulian blocked NH-34 and turned violent. They were pelting stones, looting and setting shops, homes and government properties on fire. As per reports, around 10-15 police personnel were injured, with law and order collapsing for hours.
“There were no police officials. They were just scared—sitting inside their houses like us,” said a local shopkeeper to India Today, whose business was looted while his family was shivering in fear.
A traffic police outpost, just meters from the clashes, was torched. Several police bikes lay burnt. SOS calls reportedly went unanswered, and locals claimed the administration was missing through the night.
At Dhulian railway station, mobs ransacked the relay room and set fire to railway staff vehicles, forcing train cancellations. A tearful elderly couple said their grocery shop was looted twice, “There was no police. They took everything from us.”
“This is just the trailer. The real movie is yet to begin,” warned resident Sujit Ghoshal, highlighting the brewing anger and sense of abandonment that still lingers in the district.
BJP leaders slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state over the violence. BJP MLA Suvendhu Adhikari said, "I am deeply outraged and vehemently condemn the atrocious incident of vandalism at the Jalangi BDO Office in Murshidabad District, carried out by radical elements masquerading as protestors against the Anti-Waqf Law."
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said, "What is happening in Malda & Murshidabad makes it difficult to tell whether this is Bangladesh or West Bengal! Even today,temples are being vandalized & Hindu homes are being looted. We have repeatedly said that there is a conspiracy to turn West Bengal into 'West Bangladesh'."
