West Bengal Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday felicitated and honoured three men accused of assaulting Muslim food vendors during a mass Gita chanting event in Kolkata. Adhikari asserted that he was standing by the accused “as a Hindu” fulfilling what he described as his religious duty.
Suvendu Adhikari shared photographs on social media in which he is seen felicitating Soumik Golder, Tarun Bhattacharya and Swarnendu Chakraborty. In his accompanying message, he declared, “I want to tell Mamata Banerjee that you cannot suppress ‘sanatanis’ by unleashing your loyalist police on them.” He added that “the fight to protect religion will continue, and in this fight, I stand with every Hindu, along with countless supporters of Hindutva.”
Speaking to reporters later in the day, Adhikari claimed that “the voice of justice still prevailed silently in India.” He also criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for allegedly asserting that she herself had ensured the arrests. “Who is she to decide arrests?” he asked. “I am a legislator, leader of the Opposition, a BJP member, all that comes later. First, I am a Hindu. If my Hindu brothers and sisters are in trouble, my primary duty is to protect my dharma.” Adhikari further said he had deployed his legal team to assist the accused at the police station and had coordinated with several lawyers to secure their bail.
The event in question, Panch Lokkho Konthe Gitapath was held on Sunday at the Brigade Parade Grounds. It was organised by the Sanatan Sanskriti Sansad, a collective of monks and Hindutva organisations, and was attended by several BJP leaders, including Adhikari and Samik Bhattacharyya.
According to reports, patties vendors, among them 50-year-old Sheikh Riyajul and 60-year-old Salauddin were attacked for selling non-vegetarian food at the venue. The vendors said groups of men confronted them, demanded their names, accused them of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators”, and threw away the food items they were selling.
Two FIRs were subsequently filed based on these allegations. Acting on this, the police on Wednesday arrested three individuals identified as Soumik Golder, Tarun Bhattacharya and Swarnendu Chakraborty. The trio were charged with unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, outraging religious feelings, criminal intimidation and mischief. All three were granted bail a few hours later by a city court on personal bonds of ₹1,000 each.
