BJP takes out rally in Kolkata demanding release of Hindu leader in Bangladesh

Kolkata: Around 200 activists of the BJP took out a rally in Behala area of Kolkata on Tuesday seeking the immediate release of arrested Bangladeshi Hindu community leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari.

Das, the leader of Hindu group 'Sammilita Sanatani Jote', was arrested from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport area in Dhaka by Bangladesh Police on Monday.

The rallyists, holding flashlights, raised slogans demanding the release of Das, a monk associated with a religious order, and that no such arrests of minority community leaders be made in the future.

They went through Parnasree, Barisha and some other localities of Behala along Diamond Harbour Road and adjacent alleys around 9 pm, affecting vehicular traffic.

"We call for the immediate release of Das, whose only fault was that he protested the attacks on minority Hindus in parts of Bangladesh in the past few months," a local BJP leader said.

Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, earlier in the day said that BJP MLAs would march to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission on Wednesday and "gherao" it in protest against Das's arrest.

He also threatened that the BJP would stage a blockade at the India-Bangladesh border at Petrapole in North 24 Parganas district.

Another outfit, Hindu Jagran Manch, has called for a march on Thursday from Sealdah to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission located in Park Circus area in protest against the arrest of Das, Adhikari added.

On October 30, a case was filed against 19 people, including Das, at Chattogram's Kotwali police station, accusing them of disrespecting Bangladesh's national flag in Chattogram's New Market area during a rally of the Hindu community.