West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday felicitated three men accused of assaulting Muslim vendors for selling non-vegetarian food at a Gita chanting event in Kolkata, PTI reported.
The Bharatiya Janata Party MLA said that he stood by them “as a Hindu” performing his duty.
The event, Panch Lokkho Konthe Gitapath (Gita recitation in five lakh voices), was organised on Sunday by the Sanatan Sanskriti Sansad, a collective of monks and Hindutva outfits. Several BJP leaders, including Adhikari and Samik Bhattacharyya, were also present.
Three Muslim vendors had alleged that they had been assaulted for selling non-vegetarian food at the event. Groups allegedly asked them their names, accused them of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators” and threw away their food items.
Two first information reports were registered after the event based on the complaints of two of the Muslim vendors, 50-year-old Sheikh Riyajul and 60-year-old Salauddin.
Late on Wednesday, three men, identified as Soumik Golder, Tarun Bhattacharya and Swarnendu Chakraborty, were arrested in connection with the assault, The Telegraph reported.
They were booked on charges of unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, outraging religious feelings, criminal intimidation and mischief.
However, all three of them were granted bail hours later by a city court on personal bonds of Rs 1,000 each.
On Thursday, Adhikari shared on social media images of the event felicitating Golder, Bhattacharya and Chakraborty, saying, “I want to tell [Chief Minister] Mamata Banerjee that you cannot suppress ‘sanatanis’ by unleashing your loyalist police on them.”
The BJP leader was referring to those who practice Sanatana Dharma – a term some people use as a synonym for Hinduism.
“The fight to protect religion will continue, and in this fight, I stand with every Hindu, along with countless supporters of Hindutva,” the Nandigram MLA added.
Speaking to reporters, Adhikari also claimed that the voice of justice still prevailed silently in India, PTI reported.
He said that Banerjee had “arrogantly” said that she had the three men arrested.
“Who is she to decide arrests?” the news agency quoted the BJP leader as saying. “I am a legislator, leader of the Opposition, a BJP member – all that comes later. First, I am a Hindu. If my Hindu brothers and sisters are in trouble, my primary duty is to protect my ‘dharma’.
Adhikari also noted that he had sent his legal team to the police station and coordinated with several lawyers who worked to help the three men secure bail.
Chakraborty’s profile on the social media platform describes him as a state executive member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing, The Telegraph reported. His father claimed that he had also been earlier associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The RSS is the parent wing of the BJP.
BJP spokesperson Jeet Bose further claimed that Golder was an active member of the Hindutva group Vishwa Hindu Parishad, according to The Telegraph.
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