The Bharatiya Janata Party has lashed out at the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, after a video went viral showing a group of sadhus (seers) being purportedly thrashed by a mob in the Purulia district. The TMC did not immediately respond to the allegations.

“Shame on Mamata Banerjee’s deafening silence! Are these Hindu Sadhus not worthy of your acknowledgment? The atrocity demands accountability,” the BJP West Bengal wrote on social media X (formally Twitter) while commenting on a video posted by the party’s IT cell head Amit Malviya on Friday.

In the 30-second viral footage, a group of sadhus are purportedly seen being stripped and assaulted by a mob.

HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Equating the incident with the 2020 Palghar mob lynching, Amit Malviya, wrote, “Absolutely shocking incident reported from Purulia in West Bengal… Sadhus travelling to Gangasagar for Makar Sankranti were stripped and beaten by criminals affiliated with the ruling TMC.”

Claiming that it was a crime to be Hindu in West Bengal, the BJP leader added, “In Mamata Banerjee’s regime, a terrorist like Shahjahan Sheikh gets state protection and sadhus are being lynched.”

Meanwhile, BJP Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar also hit out at the Mamata Banerjee government over the assault.

“Shocking incident from Purulia; Sadhus en route to Gangasagar were stripped and beaten by criminals linked to TMC, echoing the Palghar tragedy. Under @MamataOfficial’s rule, a terrorist like Shahjahan gets state protection while sadhus face violence. Being Hindu is a crime in WB.

BJP MP Locket Chatterjee said she was “outraged by the Purulia incident”. Taking to X, she wrote, “Sadhus en route to Gangasagar brutally attacked—shocking evidence of deteriorating safety under TMC. Mamata’s regime shields terrorists like Shahjahan Sheikh, while sadhus face brutal lynching. A grim reality for Hindus in Bengal. #SaveBengal.”

Who is Shahjahan Sheikh?

Shahjahan Sheikh is a TMC strongman and a local panchayat leader, has been reportedly absconding since the attack on a team of the Enforcement Directorate in the North 24 Parganas district of Bengal earlier this month when the officials during raids conducted in connection with the alleged ration scam in the state.

The ED sleuths reached the area to conduct raids on the properties of Shahjahan Sheikh and another local TMC leader Shankar Adhya has come under attack from unidentified people, with some officials being heckled and assaulted and their vehicles vandalised. At least three ED officials sustained injuries in the incident.

On Friday, the ED resumed its raids and searched the residences of state fire and emergency services minister Sujit Bose, TMC MLA Tapas Roy and another TMC leader in connection with the alleged irregularities in civic body recruitments.

2020 Palghar mob lynching

On April 16, 2020, a vigilante group lynched two sadhus in Maharashtra’s Palghar district after allegedly suspecting them to be child kidnappers and organ harvesters. The sadhus were driving to a funeral in Surat when a group of villagers in Gadchinchle, a tribal village in Palghar, stopped their vehicle and attacked them with stones, logs and axes. More than 100 people were arrested in connection with the incident.