Crime to be a Hindu in West Bengal: BJP's Amit Malviya rips into TMC after clip of 'assault' on seers goes viral

NEW DELHI: After a video went viral showing a group of seers being purportedly thrashed by a mob in the Purulia district, BJP leader and the party's IT Cell head, Amit Malviya, on Friday lashed out at the ruling Trinamool Congress, claiming that it was a crime to be Hindu in West Bengal.

Viral footage showed a group of sadhus (ascetics) purportedly stripped and assaulted by a mob in the Purulia district on Friday.

"Absolutely shocking incident reported from Purulia in West Bengal. In a Palghar kind lynching, sadhus travelling to Gangasagar for Makar Sankranti were stripped and beaten by criminals affiliated with the ruling TMC," Malviya posted from his official X handle on Friday.

"In Mamata Banerjee's regime, a terrorist like Shahjahan Sheikh gets state protection and sadhus are being lynched. It is a crime to be a Hindu in West Bengal," the BJP leader added in his post.

The TMC did not to respond to Malviya's post or the alleged incident till the time of filing this report. Further details are awaited.

A TMC strongman and a local panchayat leader, Sheikh Shahjahan has been reported absconding since the attack on teams of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in the North 24 Parganas district of Bengal earlier.

The sleuths, out to raid Shahjahan Sheikh and another local TMC leader, Shankar Adhya, came under attack from unidentified people, with the officials heckled and assaulted and their vehicles vandalised.

Two ED officials sustained injuries in the incident.

Even as the BJP gunned for the Mamata Banerjee government, alleging the collapse of law and order in the State, the TMC claimed that locals responded to 'provocation' from the raiding ED teams.

The raids were being conducted in connection with the alleged ration scam in the state.