By PTI
KOLKATA: The West Bengal BJP on Saturday gave a call for “Marichjhapi Abhijan”, as its members plan to visit the tiny island of Marichjhapi close to Sunderbans on January 31 to pay tribute to people who were allegedly killed in police action while trying to settle in the state, having fled Bangladesh during the Liberation War.
BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told reporters here that the backward caste cell of the party would undertake the march to Marichjhapi as it also seeks to remind the younger generation about the “history of oppression on the displaced backward-caste Hindu Bengalis” during the Jyoti Basu-led Left Front regime.
The CPI(M) claimed that the saffron camp was “concocting history” and no such incident took place.
Bhattacharya, talking to reporters, said, “The backward caste cell of the BJP will on January 31 visit Marichjhapi, where an unknown number of migrant Hindus were on this day in 1979 killed by the police and many women gangraped.”
The party would also take out rallies in various districts of the state on that day, he said.
Asked if the programme was aimed at winning the trust of backward caste communities, given that Matuas were on an agitation path due to the delay in Citizenship (Amendment) Act implementation, Bhattacharya asserted that “there was no hidden agenda”.
“Our stand on giving citizenship to refugee Hindus and security to Indian Muslims remains unchanged. We only want to remind the present generation about the brutal murder of hundreds during the police action in Marichjhapi in 1979. History cannot be erased,” he said.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty alleged that the BJP was attempting to “distort history by flagging an issue which is nothing but a bunch of concocted lies”.
“They (BJP leaders) are trying to foment trouble by organising such rallies. People of West Bengal will not fall prey to such efforts,” he added.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the BJP was trying to “win over backward castes by harping on an old issue”.
