My only fault was that I entered a Hindu-dominated area: Blind Muslim beggar who was forced to chant Jai Shri Ram in WB

In a shocking incident that ought to torment anyone with an ounce of humanity, two blind beggars were forced to chant Jai Shri Ram and Jai Maa Tara by a group of men in West Bengal.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the incident occurred in Chitadanga area of Andal in West Bengal’s West Burdwan district. A video of the incident had gone viral and it’s not immediately clear which group is responsible for this sickening incident.

Abul Bashar 67 told The Indian Express: “My only fault was that I am a Muslim and I entered a Hindu-dominated area.” Abul Bashar, and his wife Bedana Bibi 61 said they were assaulted on Tuesday. This is the day after communal clashes broke out in Raniganj and Asansol in the same district.

Andal is 32 km from Asansol and 18 km from Raniganj. Bashar told IE that he didn’t know about the clashes when he had gone out to beg.

Speaking about the incident, he said: “We go to various places in Birbhum and Burdwan. In Andal, some people came and snatched my cap. They said they will kill us because we are Muslims and had entered a Hindu-dominated area. Then they started beating me and my wife. My wife begged for my life and pleaded that we will never come to this area if they let us go. But they did not listen.”

He added: “I told them that we are blind and we had gone there to beg and not to cause any trouble. Rather than let us go, they asked us to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Maa Tara’. I told them that Bhagwan and Allah are the same and people have the right to freedom of religion. I asked them why they were forcing us to chant Jai Shri Ram. As we feared for our lives, I agreed to do what they wanted.”

In the video, voices are heard asking Bashar to chant and is seen holding a saffron flag with Om written on it. Police officials told Indian Express they were unaware about the incident. Office-in-charge of Andal police haven’t received a complaint. Bedana Bibi said she was too scared to go to the police and returned home.

Defying the state government's prohibitory orders, a BJP delegation on Monday visited violence-hit Asansol to take stock of the situation there after last week's Ram Navami violence. The four-member BJP delegation, led by its national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain, visited Asansol amid tight security and were joined by the local BJP leaders at relief camps.

After returning to Kolkata, Hussain blamed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for "having failed" to control the situation in the Asansol-Raniganj belt of West Burdwan district and said, "It (the government) has played the role of a mute observer." "We visited relief camps in Asansol and found that whatever had happened was wrong. It was a failure on the part of the state government," he told reporters.

Hussain said the delegation will submit to BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday a report on whatever they observed in Asansol. The delegation had been formed by the BJP chief.

Besides Hussain, the delegation included BJP national vice-president and Rajya Sabha member Om Prakash Mathur, Palamu MP and former director general of Jharkhand police Vishnu Dayal Ram and Rajya Sabha member Roopa Ganguly.

With inputs from PTI