‘We Have Lost Everything’: Elderly Man Breaks Down as He Recounts the Horror of Murshidabad Violence

New Delhi: We have lost everything, sobs an elderly man, his voice cracking with grief, as he recalls the terrifying violence that forced him and his family to flee from their home in Murshidabad, West Bengal. 

“I don’t really know what happened... I opened my shop in the morning and sat outside. Then, they started hitting the doors, pelting bricks at us,” the elderly man says, his eyes filled with tears. 

“They broke the doors down. Everything I had my television, my mirror, my furniture, two or three almirahs was destroyed. All the money I had saved was in the house, but it’s all gone now,” he adds.

The violence that erupted in Murshidabad has left a scar on its residents. What started as a protest against the Waqf law soon spiraled into violent clashes.

One local shopkeeper described the devastation in vivid detail: “My entire building has been reduced to rubble. The glass panes were shattered, and they broke in through the rear wooden windows and doors. They looted our belongings and left everything in ruins.”

The unrest has sparked political tensions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of fostering an environment that allowed such violence to flourish. BJP leaders have been vocal in their criticism, claiming that the West Bengal government has failed to protect its citizens and maintain law and order.

BJP leaders have lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for what they describe as her government’s inability to control the violence. Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar condemned the killings and property damage, saying, “Violence has become a tradition in Mamata's Bengal.”