BJP MP demands AFSPA in Murshidabad & 3 other districts | What does it mean?

Amid continuing unrest in West Bengal over protests against the Waqf Act, BJP MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato has urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to impose the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in four districts, including Murshidabad, where violent clashes have reportedly targeted the Hindu community.

In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Mahato wrote, "Bengal Burning. Hindus Bleeding. Murshidabad, Malda, Nadia, South 24 Parganas - Hindus attacked, homes looted, lives lost. Trinamool Congress's appeasement has failed law and order. Like Kashmiri Pandits once, Bengali Hindus are being hunted. I urge @AmitShah ji to impose AFSPA under Sec 3 of the 1958 Act."

AFSPA grants special powers to armed forces in “disturbed areas,” allowing them to arrest without a warrant, search premises, and use force, including lethal force, to maintain public order. The law is considered controversial and is typically reserved for areas with intense insurgency or long-term unrest.

Mahato, who represents Purulia in the Lok Sabha, alleged that in Murshidabad alone, over 86 Hindu homes and shops were looted and burned, including large-scale economic sabotage such as the targeted burning of betel leaf plantations in Jhaubona village. He emphasized that these were not isolated incidents, but part of a broader pattern.

He further claimed that similar violence and targeted communal attacks have taken place in Malda, Nadia, and South 24 Parganas. According to him, such repeated riots are a result of Trinamool Congress's policy of appeasement, leaving the Hindu community “vulnerable and voiceless.”

Citing a particularly tragic incident, Mahato mentioned the deaths of a father and son during the violence. “What we are witnessing on the ground is not merely sporadic lawlessness. It is sustained and targeted violence against the Hindu community, facilitated by political appeasement and administrative inaction under the Trinamool Congress regime,” he said.