New Delhi, October 29, 2021 (PPI-OT):Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that Muslims are being brutalised in Tripura, asking how long the BJP government will pretend to be deaf and blind towards the attacks against the country’s largest religious minority.
Rahul Gandhi in a tweet criticised the saffron party-led government over the state-wide attacks on mosques and Muslim habitations in Tripura. A key Opposition leader in the country in a tweet said that the government was ‘pretending’ that there is no problem in the northeastern state.
More than 15 mosques and several houses, and shops belonging to Muslims were vandalised and burnt by Hindu paramilitary groups RSS, VHP, and Bajrang Dal across Tripura during week-long protests against Bangladesh violence so far.
Photos and videos show violent right-wing mobs, who wear saffron clothes and carry swords, raising anti-Muslim slogans during protests organised by Viswa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Jagran Manch, Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
“More than two dozen of hate-crimes against Muslims happened across Tripura since last week. The authorities didn’t arrest any culprits,” Safiqur Rahman, an activist associated with Students Islamic Organisation (SIO), Tripura, said.
Muslims in a Tripura village have accused Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) members of molesting Muslim women after they were targeted by the Hindu paramilitary groups, a police complaint states. “At approx. 3 pm afternoon on 26 October 2021, a rally happened in Panisagar organised by Vishva Hindu Parishad. The rally was moving by Assam-Agartala roads to Chamtila via Roa Bazar. Some miscreant groups from the rally set fire on shops and vandalised it.
Shops were gutted in the fire. Additionally, they invaded and ruckus homes of residents living near to the market (Roa Bazaar). They sexually molested women. They had planned to attack Roa Jamia Mosque. In this grave situation, minority families are feeling insecurity. We would request to take necessary action under IPC against these miscreants,” read a rough translation of a complaint written in Bengali language.
The complaint dated 26 October 2021, was filed to Panisagar police station by seven Muslims, including two women residing in the Roa locality in Panisagar sub-division in North Tripura, 155 km from state capital Agartala. There were 3,500 people in the rally where anti-Muslim slogans were chanted.
“A section of VHP activists at the rally ransacked a mosque in the Chamtilla area. Later, three houses and three shops were ransacked and two shops set on fire in the Rowa Bazar area, around 800 yards away from the first incident,” Indian Express quotes Panisagar Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Soubhik Dey as saying.
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