Right-wing organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has urged the Indian public and government to launch a campaign against Bangladesh, including protests in front of Bangladeshi diplomatic missions in New Delhi, Mumbai and other cities.
VHP International Working President Alok Kumar announced at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday that the organisation would hold a protest rally in front of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Mumbai at 3:00pm today.
Describing India as a secular state, Kumar spoke against the killing of Dipu Chandra Das in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. He said the VHP, through its units across India and in different parts of the world, would raise the issue on international platforms to mobilise global opinion against Bangladesh.
The organisation also expressed hope that the Indian government would take what it termed “adequate and appropriate” diplomatic and other measures in response to the incident.
Kumar claimed that minority-related issues in Bangladesh should not be treated as an internal matter, describing them instead as issues of global concern.
Meanwhile, on the same day, a Bangladeshi visa outsourcing centre was vandalised in Siliguri. At least four organisations, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), also organised rallies and attempted to march towards the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata.
Earlier on Saturday night, a group of protesters gathered in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi while Bangladesh High Commissioner M Riaz Hamidullah and his family members were present inside the chancery complex.
Rising tensions
The rising hostility towards Bangladesh in parts of India has had serious consequences, including incidents involving Indian citizens mistakenly identified as Bangladeshis and get killed.
In one such case, a young migrant worker from Chhattisgarh, Ramnarayan Baghel, travelled to Kerala in search of employment but was beaten to death by a mob in Palakkad district after being mistaken for a Bangladeshi national Sunday.
In another incident, Indian citizens Sonali Khatun, her husband Danish Sheikh, their eight-year-old son and three others were pushed across the border into Bangladesh on 27 June after being detained by Delhi police on suspicion of being Bangladeshi citizens.
The Supreme Court of India later intervened and directed the authorities to bring them back, ruling that they were Indian citizens.
