Sandeshkhali shows Sanatan Dharma eradication not statement but campaign: BJP
Telegraph | 24 February 2024
The BJP on Friday launched a broadside on Opposition parties over the alleged targeting of Hindus in West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, claiming this goes on to prove that the assertion about the eradication of 'Sanatan Dharma' is not merely a statement but a campaign.
BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi hit out at the Trinamul Congress government for not allowing his party's leaders, including a group of women comprising legislators and others to visit trouble-torn Sandeshkhali and not arresting Shahjahan Sheikh, a local TMC strongman.
Sheikh has been accused by some women in Sandeshkhali of running a ring of TMC members involved in land grabs and sexual assault.
Trivedi told reporters that it was not only about the West Bengal government protecting him but there was a particular mindset which believes in "secular protection" of some people irrespective of crimes and atrocities they commit.
While "secular parties" are keeping mum because they weigh the complaints of women against their vote-bank politics even the self-proclaimed champions of women's rights have maintained silence, he said.
This is not merely an incident but a phenomenon which has destroyed Bengal for over two centuries, the Rajya Sabha member said as he referred to targeting of women and Hindus in the past.
It is not about Hindus and Muslims. Some parties believe in protecting radicals and criminal elements among Muslims to maintain their hold on power and are not concerned about the future, he alleged.
Citing a new law passed in Karnataka which mandates that the state government will collect 10 per cent of the income of temples that have revenues of more than Rs 1 crore and the earlier comments of some DMK leaders in Tamil Nadu criticising 'Sanatan Dharma', he said all these developments, including the Sandeshkhali incident, show that the "eradication of Sanatan Dharma is not merely a statement but a campaign".
These parties gave Haj subsidy, now scrapped, and imposed taxes on temples, he said.
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