‘Crime to be Hindu’: BJP's Amit Malviya condemns ‘assault’ on sadhus in Bengal's Gangasagar Mela

livemint.com:

Amit Malviya had remarked “it is a crime to be Hindu in West Bengal", after a video emerged on social media platforms showing a group of sadhus (ascetics) purportedly stripped and assaulted by a mob in the Purulia district. Amit Malviya lashed out at the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government helmed by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the “absolutely shocking incident". "Absolutely shocking incident reported from Purulia in West Bengal.

In a Palghar kind lynching, sadhus travelling to Gangasagar for Makar Sankranti were stripped and beaten by criminals affiliated with the ruling TMC," Malviya posted from his official X handle on Friday. "In Mamata Banerjee's regime, a terrorist like Shahjahan Sheikh gets state protection and sadhus are being lynched. It is a crime to be a Hindu in West Bengal," the BJP leader added in his post.

TMC did not to respond to Malviya's post or the alleged incident. Notably barbs between rivals TMC and BJP has increased in intensity with the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Describing the Gangasagar Mela as one of the world's largest religious congregations, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Thursday written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to declare it as a "national fair".