'Migrating within Bengal': Mamata's minister makes bizarre claim as many flee homes amid anti-Waqf protests

NEW DELHI: West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim on Monday made a bizarre remark amid ongoing protests against new Waqf laws, saying those fleeing the violence-hit areas "are migrating within Bengal" and not abandoning the state.
Hakim, who is also the Kolkata mayor, claimed that "everything is alright" and that police would act against those behind the Murshidabad violence.
"People are relocating within Bengal, not fleeing the state. The administration is taking all possible steps to restore normalcy. The violence is unfortunate, and police are working to identify those responsible," Mamata's minister told news agency PTI.

BJP leader of leader of opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday claimed that more than 400 Hindus were forced to flee their homes in Dhulian, Murshidabad, following communal violence in the region.
He alleged that that the violence was a result of the Trinamool Congress' "appeasement politics" which, he said, had "emboldened radical elements."
“More than 400 Hindus from Dhulian, Murshidabad, driven by fear of religiously driven bigots, were forced to flee across the river and take shelter at Par Lalpur High School, Deonapur-Sovapur GP, Baisnabnagar, Malda,” Adhikari wrote on X.
A special division bench of the Calcutta high court, during a hearing on Saturday, noted that the measures taken by the state to control communal unrest in the Murshidabad district over the previous few days were inadequate.
Bengal BJP took out a procession from College Street to Esplanade in Kolkata to protest the violence and loss of teaching and other jobs in state-run schools after the Supreme Court's verdict on the SSC recruitment scam.
On Friday, the Murshidabad district witnessed large-scale violence during protests over the new Waqf law. Police vans were torched, stones were hurled at security personnel, and roadblocks brought life to a standstill in several towns.
"The situation is getting normal now. Since last Friday, we, the BSF, have been working closely with the local police and doing whatever is required to normalise the situation. Now the CRPF has also come. Yesterday also, the situation was relatively very peaceful, and wherever we are getting any input about any tension or trouble, we are responding effectively. So I am very sure that soon the situation will get normal and we are working closely with the local police and other sister agencies," ADG Eastern Command of BSF, Ravi Kumar Gandhi told ANI.