BJP leaders, Hindutva groups intensify Kolkata protests against Bangladesh, calling for economic blockade

Hindutva groups and BJP leaders call for economic blockade of Bangladesh amid protests against Hindu minority treatment.

Hindutva groups and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders called for an economic blockade of Bangladesh on Friday (December 6, 2024), as protests against the neighbouring country’s treatment of its Hindu minorities continued to intensify.

Monks from several Hindutva groups, along with the West Bengal Assembly’s Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, on Friday (December 6, 2024) participated in a rally from Shyambazar to Sinthi crossing in north Kolkata.

Mr. Adhikari claimed that India would benefit if bilateral trade with Bangladesh is called off. “[Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ruhul Kabir] Rizvi is burning Indian sarees. If Bangladesh has the guts then they should ban Indian sarees. This will only benefit our artisans of Katwa Kalna, Shantipur and Phulia,” Mr. Adhikari said, demanding a complete suspension of trade along the India-Bangladesh border. 

Several Hindutva organisations and the State BJP leadership have organised protests in Kolkata since the November 25 arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, a monk of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). A Hindutva organisation also called for a boycott of Bangladeshi goods and burnt certain products from the neighbouring country in the city’s Maniktala area.

The BJP MP from Purulia, Jyotirmay Singh Mahato also wrote to the Norwegian Nobel Committee requesting them to reassess the legacy of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is now the Bangladesh interim government’s chief advisor .

“I am writing this to you with a heavy heart, compelled to highlight the tragic irony of awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to individuals whose legacies are now stained with violence and injustice. This letter specifically addresses the grave atrocities against Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh under the current regime led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate,” read the letter by the BJP MP.

West Bengal Speaker Biman Banerjee also said that Prof. Yunus had failed the people of Bangladesh. “He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace but he has failed to restore peace in Bangladesh. The way people from one community have been targeted in Bangladesh is unfortunate. Now it is for the Nobel committee to decide. I am not going to appeal to anyone,” the Speaker said.