TMC seeks dispatch of U.N. forces to Bangladesh; questions Centre’s ‘silence’-OxBig News Network

TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Tuesday (December 3, 2024).
| Photo Credit: PTI

Expressing concern over the targeting of religious minorities in Bangladesh, Trinamool Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, urged the Government of India on Tuesday (December 3, 2024) to request the United Nations to deploy peacekeeping forces there.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Bandopadhyay said minorities, including Hindus, are being tortured and killed in Bangladesh.

Being an immediate neighbour of Bangladesh, West Bengal is directly affected by the happenings there, he added, referring to the entry of refugees in the past.

“The Government of India is totally silent now, for reasons best known to them. Our appeal is that the Minister of External Affairs brief us on the situation in Bangladesh,” Mr. Bandopadhyay said.

He said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee adopted a resolution in the West Bengal Assembly to back whatever decision the Centre takes with regard to Bangladesh. “We want to work together, but the people of Bangladesh ought to be saved,” he added.

There have reportedly been more than 200 attacks on Hindus in 50 districts of Bangladesh since the collapse of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5. About 8% of Bangladesh’s 170 million people are Hindus.