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BJP MPs stopped from entering violence-hit Malda in West Bengal

by IBNS 11 Jan 2016, 06:57 am

Malda, Jan 11 ( IBNSI) A three-member fact-finding team of the BJP, which was going to visit the violence-hit areas of Malda distrcit, was stopped at the railway station on Monday morning, reports said.

The team includes BJP MPs  SS Ahluwalia, Bhupendra Yadav and BD Ram.

Aluwahlia told reporters  that police stopped them at the Malda Railway station as they were about to enter the town. The were  told to leave the place as there were prohibitory orders i Kaliachak.

They were reportedly forced to take a train back to Kolkata.

"We said we want to know the truth, we have not come here to instigate anybody. Our purpose was to restore the confidence of the people there,"  Ahluwalia said..

Violence erupted in Malda district on January three when more than  a lakh people gathered under the banner of  a little known organisation of Muslims protesting comments about the Prophet Mohammad allegedly made by Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari.

The protesters, some of whom were allegedly armed, ransacked a Border Security Force (BSF) jeep, attacked a police station and burnt cars. The mob also barricaded a national highway. 

The BJP has accused the state's ruling Trinamool Congress of protecting those behind the violence. 

However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said the violence was not communal but a clash between local people and the BSF.

Altogether nine BJP leaders, including the party MLA Shamik Bhattacharyay were arrested by police last week on the charge of violating prohibitory orders.