2 Die in Bengal clashes during strike to protest against citizenship law

Mangalore Today News Network

Kolkata, Jan 29, 2020: Two persons died in Bengal’s Murshidabad district in a clash that took place during a strike against the citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens. Three others are injured and are admitted to hospital, sources said.

The strike was called by a group called Bharitya Nagarik Manch, during which a clash took place at a village called Sahibnagar, NDTV reported.

 

The local BJP had claimed that the trouble started when workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress attacked bandh supporters who were holding a road block.

Bombs and bullets were allegedly used and several two-wheelers and cars were ransacked and torched during the clash.

The Trinamool Congress claimed that it was the Congress and the CPM which had plotted the clash. "I have requested the police to look into the incident and the culprits should be immediately arrested," local Trinamool leader Abu Taher was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.

Senior Congress leader and MLA Manoj Chakraborty denied involved of his party in the incident and demanded judicial inquiry into the incident to unearth the truth, PTI reported.
The area is under tension and a huge police contingent is at the site.

Chief minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has refused to allow the implementation of the citizenship law in her state and the state assembly has also passed a resolution against it. But the Chief Minister has also refused to support any strike or disruption in the state.

It was a trade union strike that led to her rift with the Congress and the Left Front, though all three parties are on the same side of the citizenship issue.

The Citizenship Amendment Act makes religion, for the first time, the test of Indian citizenship. The government says it will help non-Muslim refugees from three Muslim-dominated neighbouring countries if they fled to India because of religious persecution.Critics say the bill discriminates against Muslims and violates secular tenets of the Constitution.