Bangladeshi mobs, protesting over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) ran amok in various parts of West Bengal targeting railway stations and public property while the state police remained mute spectators to raging violence in the state. Tension prevailed on Saturday, a day after Bangladeshi Muslims blocked roads and set on fire railway stations. This has impacted train and road transport in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of fueling lawlessness through her statements opposing the CAA. Senior BJP leader and prabhari of the state Kailash Vijayvargiya alleged that Bangladeshi infiltrators are behind the shameful incidents in Bengal.
A Muslim mob on Friday had vandalised the Beldanga railway station of Eastern Railway in Murshidabad district, forcing the railway employees to flee. The protesters set on fire the station master’s cabin and ransacked the ticket counter. Public properties were also destroyed by the mob. They also sat on the track, disrupting train movement between Lalgola and Krishnanagar.
Another large group of protesters obstructed the National highway at Beldanga, burning tyres and damaging vehicles, including an ambulance. Vehicular traffic was halted at various points of the district, including Jalangi, Raghunathganj, Sahmserganj, Kandi, Baharampur and Domkal.
In Howrah district, angry protesters barged into the Uluberia station under South Eastern Railway and vandalised its premises. The mob earlier blockaded the track, adversely hitting train movements on the Howrah-Kharagpur section on both up and down lines.
The Howrah-Coromondol Express and the Howrah-Digha Kandari Express were damaged in the attack. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar appealed for peace and asked people to believe in the rule of law and the laws passed by Parliament and described the violence as unfortunate.
Besides West Bengal, the northeastern region, especially in the states of Assam, Tripura and now Meghalaya, have witnessed widespread violent protests against the CAA.
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