Murder, Displacement, Exodus: Waqf Protests Violence in Murshidabad
By Arka Bhaduri
15 Apr 2025
Bhola Das and Mohd Hassan have been friends for as long as they can remember. Belonging to the Dhuliyan municipality in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, the two are not just neighbours but also business partners who jointly run a fruit and a flower shop. On Friday, 11 April, protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025 turned violent, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Das and Hassan’s joint shops were part of the casualties.
Remnants of the destruction still smouldered across different parts of Murshidabad, including Samserganj, Suti, and Dhuliyan in Jangipur subdivision, when The Quint visited on Sunday, 13 April.
On 11-12 April, both Samserganj and Suti saw clashes.
Areas like the Hindu-majority Ghoshpara and Ratanpur also remained tense. The region remained under heavy deployment of police and security personnel in violence-affected areas.
Parts of Murshidabad remain under heavy deployment of police and security personnel.
How the Violence Began
It all seemingly started at Dhuliyan municipal town, where a demonstration against the recently passed Waqf (Amendment) Bill turned into chaos. Samserganj resident and eyewitness Asif Mondal told The Quint that on Friday, 11 April, various Muslim organisations and groups of Imams and muezzins in Dhuliyan called for a protest march.
“It was not led by any specific organisation but by the general minority community and many groups participated,” Mondal said. The march began near Samserganj police station, heading towards the Dakbungalow crossing.
Looking back to how it all started, Hassan recalled, "The procession was peaceful at first; scores of people had become part of it. There was no trouble anywhere.” But suddenly, a section of the crowd that was marching toward the police Dakbungalow crossing turned back, causing confusion, he claimed.
Before the march organisers could understand what was happening, the group started indiscriminately vandalising and looting shops lining the road—not just targeting Hindu shops and homes but also Muslim-owned establishments.
Das further added, "We have been doing business here for many years and nothing like this has happened. There was good business during Eid. We lost all of it.”
The eyewitnesses claimed that the vandals’ faces were masked with cloth, adding that after wreaking havoc for some time, the looters retreated through alleyways toward the riverbank.
Sources within the local police told The Quint upon condition of anonymity that some of the miscreants likely crossed the Ganga river and may have taken refuge in states like Jharkhand. However, locals like Das and Mondal accuse the police of being mute spectators during the entire rampage in Dhuliyan, adding that the looting took place despite deployment of security personnel to oversee the protests. The police sources claimed that the situation spiralled out of control too quickly to be fully contained.
Meanwhile, trouble brewed in Suti. On 11 April, same day as the ruckus in Dhuliyan, a protest rally organised near Omarpur in Suti-II block, became tense.
Though the shooting was presumably unrelated to Dhuliyan, the news of the separate incidents spread like wildfire, leading to confusion, fear and eventually a spiral of violence that spread to nearby areas, consuming two innocent lives and displacing hundreds.
Murder, Displacement, Exodus
Fresh tension arose in Samserganj on Saturday morning when idol-makers, Hargobinda Das (74) and his son Chandan Das (40), residents of Jafrabad in Samserganj, were killed by a violent mob in their own house. Das’ family member Pinki Das alleged that the victims were left on their own despite seeking help from the police.
The family members, however, did not want to talk to the media out of fear, even as they confirmed that no FIR had yet been lodged, despite assurance from politicians.
Meanwhile, mobs continued to rampage and attack both Hindu and Muslim properties and houses in Ghoshpara and Samserganj on Friday and Saturday. Under attack, families, especially women and children, from Samserganj and Ghoshpara reportedly crossed the Ganga river to take shelter in the Parlalpur village of Baishnabnagar in Maldah district.
Ghoshpara resident Malati Ghosh, a homemaker who has taken shelter in the Parlalpur High School with her seven-year-old, told The Quint, "Our house was attacked by mobs on Friday afternoon. The pond water was poisoned. There is no security. That's why I fled".
Women including Malati Ghosh who were displaced from their homes in the violence.
(Photo: Arka Bhaduri/The Quint)
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She also informed that the goons broke the seal of the gas cylinder inside her kitchen to set fire to their house. Her husband works abroad. Her child was suffering from a fever when she had to flee her home for safety.
Since the chaos, allegations of attacks on Hindu temples and breaking of idols have also surfaced. Dhuliyan municipality resident Sagar Sheikh confirmed some of the reports of vandalism but said that those who vandalised the temples in Dhuliyan were not from the area, and that the locals were now guarding the temples themselves.
In the wake of the violence, the Calcutta High Court intervened, ordering the deployment of a large number of central forces in the district. According to sources in the Border Security Force (BSF), 15 companies of central forces are stationed in Murshidabad at present.
The violence-affected region's proximity to the Bangladesh border is also a source of anxiety to locals and security personnel. Senior officials of the state police have also been assessing the situation, with special care being taken to ensure the region's return to normalcy. On Saturday night, West Bengal's Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar reached the spot and held a meeting with the BSF. Central forces have begun route marches in sensitive areas, accompanied by a large police contingent.
The situation is currently under control. Jawed Shamim, the state police ADG (law and order), and Supratim Sarkar, the state police ADG (South Bengal), both told reporters at a press meet that local people are playing important roles in maintaining peace. They also mentioned that shops are reopening and 19 people have already returned to the disturbed areas.
Politics over Violence: Claims and Counterclaims
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which has a strong presence in Ghoshpara, alleges that most of those affected or displaced by the violence are Hindus, and the perpetrators Muslim. It has promised affected families all possible assistance. The administration has also arranged for relief supplies to reach them. Meanwhile, the police have begun efforts to bring the displaced people back home. Ananda Roy, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Jangipur, said,
A visit to the area, however, makes it clear that a large number of Muslims from the area have also been displaced, unlike the BJP’s claim that only Hindus were affected by the violence.
Taed ul-Islam, a minority leader from Murshidabad and National Secretary of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), told The Quint, "The Hindus were attacked on Friday, and the Muslims were attacked on Saturday. Many of them from both communities have left their homes. The police have not been impartial to either community but goons in police uniform and boots attacked the Muslims."
Many Muslim men of Dhuliyan region have fled their homes for fear of retaliation from police and locals. Amina Bibi, a local resident, told The Quint that her husband and three sons “have been away from home since Saturday night, as they are afraid of being harassed or arrested by the police”.
Meanwhile, Muslim businesspersons and shopkeepers have also suffered losses. Gold shops, sweet shops, large stationery stores, and grocery shops have been looted. Numerous vehicles have been set on fire. Houses have been vandalised. Many homes in Dhuliyan remain deserted.
Dhuliyan falls under the Malda Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency. The home of Jangipur’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Khalilur Rahman is in the same area. Farakka’s TMC MLA Manirul Islam also resides nearby. On Saturday night, the homes of both leaders were attacked.
Rahman, who faced mass agitations on his way to Jangipur following he violence, was quoted by Bengali news outlets like ABP Ananda as saying that “a large mass of youth without any leadership or any banner are showing agitations without knowing anything about Waqf. I requested them to return to their homes but they started charging me instead."
TMC MLA Manirul told The Quint and other media that his house is just 100 meters from Samserganj police station, and yet, a mob vandalised and looted it.
Manirul alleged that rioters even tried to set his house on fire. The MLA said he was terrified and fled to the police station while his family left the area in fear.
Why Murshidabad?
The recent events in Murshidabad can be divided into two phases. Until Friday the protests were primarily against the Waqf amendment. But from Saturday, developments took on a communal hue.
So, why did the violence spread in certain parts? Let us look at the larger anti-Waqf protests in West Bengal first.
The Waqf amendment protests in West Bengal began in a uniform way, with TMC minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury emerging as the political face bringing together different socio-religious and political groups. Chowdhury and the groups under him held a massive rally in Kolkata, which sparked controversy after a viral video allegedly showed anti-Waqf protesters forcing a bus driver to remove a flag of Hindu deity Hanuman from the bus. In response, the saffron camp launched a campaign to display Ram and Hanuman flags on buses and taxis across the state.
Now coming to Murshidabad, which has a nearly 66 percent Muslim population.
Like the rest of the state, the protests against the Waqf amendment in Murshidabad were called by organisations that enjoy the support of Siddiqullah Chowdhury. These included groups like the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, various imam-muezzin groups, and smaller but locally influential parties like the SDPI and the Welfare Party.
On Sunday, several imam-muezzin organisations in Murshidabad raised the demand with DGP Rajeev Kumar that the government must prioritise reclaiming encroached Waqf properties.
Nurul Islam, a leader of a Samserganj imam-muezzin organisation, told The Quint, "Those who are enjoying the waqf properties valued at crores for Rs 100 should be identified and the properties must be legally claimed from them." His organisation also called for a protest against the Waqf bill.
Abdur Razzak, state secretary of one of the organisations leading the protests, said, “Murshidabad has many Waqf properties, much of which have been encroached. Whoever has been in power has exploited these properties. The state government must act to reclaim them and ensure proper maintenance.”
Nizamuddin, state secretary of another organisation, claimed, “There are nearly one lakh acres of Waqf land in Murshidabad. Where is the government in reclaiming them? If the government doesn’t show sincerity, public anger will only grow.” Thus, the issue cannot be seen solely in the context of the national protests against the Waqf amendment—local factors are also at play.
TMC MP from Jangipur, Khalilur Rahman, who's a Waqf Board member, said:
A Political History of Murshidabad
Once a Congress stronghold, the district was dominated by leaders like Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former MP from Behrampore. Some pockets had a strong Left and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) presence. But the scenario has changed.
The Left and the Congress are now weak, and political control lies with the TMC. However, unlike Adhir, there is no single TMC leader in Murshidabad who can command the entire organisation. The district TMC is divided into factions. Among the three TMC MPs from Murshidabad, Behrampore’s Yusuf Pathan is a celebrity but disconnected from grassroots politics. Abu Taher, MP from the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat, is elderly and ailing. Jangipur’s Khalilur Rahman is a businessman, not a mass leader. Thus, controlling communal tensions is proving difficult for the TMC, leaving the administration to handle the situation.
The state BJP has nevertheless been accused of spreading fake news. On Sunday, the West Bengal BJP posted a collage of images from past unrest on social media, misleadingly claiming they were from recent events. The police later clarified that most images were from anti-CAA protests, and some were from other states.
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Source: Killings, Displacement, Fear: How Waqf Protests Led to Violence in Murshidabad
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Arka Bhaduri is an independent journalist.
URl: https://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/murder-displacement-exodus-waqf-murshidabad/d/135218
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