A group of local BJP workers in Kolkata’s Mukundapur area launched a protest platform called ‘Salute Tiranga’ on Saturday, demanding that a private hospital in the area refuse treatment to non-Hindu patients from Bangladesh.
The move comes amid a strain in ties between the two nations over the alleged atrocities on the minority Hindu population.
The private hospital is one of Kolkata’s prominent medical facilities that receives a significant number of patients from neighbouring countries.
Despite multiple attempts to contact them, the hospital authorities were unavailable for comment.
The protesters submitted a deputation to the hospital stating — “Country comes first… our brothers and sisters are being tortured and killed over there. Thus, no medical treatment should be provided to non-Hindu Bangladeshi’s.”
The deputation also mentions, “It’s time that we keep our ethics and business aside for the respect of our Nation, Tricolour the Tiranga.”
Narayan Chatterjee, a member of ‘Salute Tiranga”‘ told The Indian Express, “We are pained at what is happening to
our minority hindu brothers and sisters in Bangladesh. They are being tortured and killed. This should be stopped. Nation always comes first.”
The protesters further said that already they have given a similar deputation to another private hospital and in future plan to hold protests outside other private hospitals who provide medical services to non-Hindu Bangladeshi’s.
Earlier this month, a 141-bed hospital in Kolkata took a stance by announcing it would no longer admit Bangladeshi patients. The decision was made in protest of the alleged disrespect shown to the Indian national flag in Bangladesh.
Another Kolkata hospital had also announced that it will not treat patients from the neighbouring country as “the national flag of India has been desecrated in various places” in the neighbouring country.
Additionally, this year for the first time stalls from Bangladesh have been missing from two of Kolkata’s major fairs — the Kolkata International Book Fair and the Bidhannagar Mela Utsav, which is organised by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC). This year, Bangladesh did not have any representation at the 30th International Film Festival in Kolkata as well due to visa problems. A two-day Bengali literary festival at Visva-Bharati University’s Bangladesh Bhavan also saw no participation from Bangladesh. This was after several poets and writers from Bangladesh were reportedly denied visas amid rising political tensions between India and the neighbouring country.
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