BJP leaders spark row with repeated calls for Hindus to ‘keep weapons’; TMC cries ‘incitement to violence’

Kolkata: Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar has drawn sharp criticism after publicly urging Hindus to hoard weapons, a statement that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has condemned as a “shameless incitement to violence, threat to communal harmony and gross violation of law”.

The controversy escalated with a video of senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh making similar remarks, prompting TMC to accuse the BJP of “using religion to provoke unrest.”

The party alleged Majumdar’s inflammatory rhetoric were part of a deliberate attempt to incite unrest in Bengal following the BJP’s recent electoral drubbing in the state. In a strongly worded post on X, Trinamool Congress said: “As if spreading fake narratives and hate wasn’t enough, now @BJP4Bengal chief @DrSukantaBJP is openly urging Hindus to hoard weapons. How much lower will this party stoop? This isn’t politics. It’s a shameless incitement to violence. A direct threat to law, order, and communal harmony. Bengal rejected your politics of hate. Now you want revenge through chaos?” “Hindus can hoard weapons and they should keep them. I have weapons in my house as well and I will urge the people to keep weapons at their houses.

This is because the police fail to provide security. An appropriate medicine should be given for a disease. Let’s say someone has been suffering from cough and cold and undergoing homeopathy treatment. If the ailments are not cured then one will go to allopathic doctors and receive antibiotics. When required, antibiotics should be taken,”

Majumdar said. According to legal experts, the call to hoard weapons potentially violates Sec 353 of BNS which criminalises statements that may “incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community”, an offence punishable by up to three years imprisonment, Trinamool was quoted saying.

In a separate incident, a video allegedly showing senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh urging Hindus to keep weapons at home for self-protection sparked controversy, with the ruling Trinamool Congress slamming the remarks as “provocative” and deeply irresponsible.

“Hindus are buying television sets, refrigerators and new furniture. But they don’t have a single weapon at home. When something happens, they keep calling the police. The police will not save you,” Ghosh was heard saying at a public rally in North 24-Parganas district about the recent Murshidabad violence. “People didn’t know about Ram Navami processions ten years ago. But now such processions are being held in every locality because Hindus have realised they need to unite. Even God doesn’t stand by the weak,” Ghosh had stated. His purported remarks kicked up a political row, with Trinamool Congress MLA from Murshidabad district, Humayun Kabir, accusing the BJP leader of inciting

communal discord. “If one person attacks another, there will be retaliation. These BJP leaders are using religion to provoke Hindus and disrupt West Bengal’s harmony and culture,” Kabir alleged.