TMC MP Sharmila Sarkar urges PM Modi, MEA to intervene amid attacks against minorities in Bangladesh

Purba Bardhaman (West Bengal) [India], December 26 (ANI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sharmila Sarkar on Friday said that the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh were an international issue and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with the Ministry of External Affairs, to intervene.
"This is an international issue, and we want our Prime Minister and the Ministry of External Affairs to intervene in this matter and engage in talks with Bangladesh to stop the attacks on Hindus. Our Chief Minister has clearly said that whatever steps the country takes, we will support," Sarkar told reporters here.
Earlier, West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of not being vocal against attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.
"In relation to Dipu Chandra Das' killing, why are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah quiet? What is the External Affairs Minister doing?" Panja told reporters during a press conference in Kolkata.
She also said that the BJP was trying to create a "false narrative" against TMC, dismissing claims that her party was silent on minorities being attacked in the neighbouring country.
"Those who are dying in Bangladesh should not be dying. The Bharatiya Janata Party should answer.
What steps has your leader, the Prime Minister of the country, taken? The Government of India and the Government of Bangladesh should talk to each other. Then why is the Trinamool Congress being questioned here?" Panja said.
Meanwhile, 12 people were arrested in Kolkata today for protesting against the atrocities being committed against minorities in Bangladesh.
The pro-Hindu activists, who carried out a rally and sat outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office in Kolkata, were produced before the Alipore Police Court.
The court granted them bail on a bond of Rs 3,000 each.
Advocate Chandan Kumar Saha told ANI, "The court has granted bail to them on a bond of Rs 3,000 each."
Thousands of saffron-clad activists, associated with pro-Hindu organisations, gathered in Kolkata on Friday and sat outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission to protest the atrocities being committed against minorities in the neighbouring country.
The pro-Hindu activists held a rally, which was accompanied by West Bengal Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari. They entered the premises of the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh to speak to the authorities regarding atrocities against Hindus.
Adhikari demanded that atrocities against Bangladeshi Hindus be stopped and warned of an intensified protest if demands were not met.
"1,000 sadhus have gathered here against what happened with Dipu Das and the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh. We demand that the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh should stop. If our demand is not met, all saints who come to Ganga Sagar Mela will come and sit in protest here," the BJP leader told ANI.
On Wednesday, The Daily Star reported that a Hindu youth identified as Amrit Mondal was lynched at Hosendanga village of Kalimohor union in Rajbari's Pangsha sub-district over an extortion allegation.
The murder of Mondal took place days after the mob lynching and burning of the Hindu youth, Dipu Chandra Das, in Bangladesh's Mymensingh district.
A worker in a garment factory, Dipu Chandra Das, was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy charges and had his body hanged and set on fire on December 18. (ANI)