Hotels in Malda district, on the India-Bangladesh border, have decided not to accommodate Bangladesh nationals from Wednesday, in the wake of the protests against the arrest of ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, the continuing atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh and also the reported dishonour of the Indian flag in the neighbouring country. Members of the Malda Hotel Association convened a meeting to discuss their concerns, which primarily revolves around potential infiltrators from Bangladesh. They also informed their decision to the district administration and local police. Malda is among the bordering districts with Mahadipur land port being one of the important land ports in Bengal. “We have decided that from tomorrow we will not allow guests from Bangladesh in our hotels. No one from Bangladesh will be allowed in hotels until the situation there normalises. All hotels across the Malda district will ban guests from our neighboring country,” Krishnendu Choudhury, secretary of the Malda Hotels Association, said on Wednesday. Citing the reasons behind the move, Chowdhury further said, “Ours is a district bordering Bangladesh and there are two reasons for our decision. One following the turmoil in Bangladesh, we fear that miscreants and terrorists may enter India with fake documents. They may try to stay in our hotels. This raises questions on nations security as well as hotel owners, we may face trouble from police.” Condemning the dishonour of the Indian flag, he said, “Secondly, we have seen how our national flag has been insulted and desecrated in Bangladesh, even by students. It pains us and this is not acceptable. This is not the work of any sane citizen of any country. We condemn it. We will face some financial loss but country comes first.” Recently, a private hospital in Kolkata and a number of senior doctors in Bengal, announced that they will not treat patients from Bangladesh. This was after the Indian flag was desecrated in some universities of Bangladesh. Derogatory posters against Muhammad Yunus, the head of the caretaker government in Bangladesh were also seen recently in north Bengal's Siliguri town, which were promptly removed by police. Protests broke out in various parts of Bengal after the arrest of ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das and atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh. Das was arrested by the Bangladesh police allegedly for treason on November 25 and produced in court a day after. He was remanded to jail custody by court. On Tuesday, Das was presented before a Chattogram court, but his bail hearing was deferred until January 2, as no lawyer appeared on his behalf. India, meanwhile, has pressed for a fair and transparent trial of ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das. ISKCON highlighted that lawyers were assaulted a few days back and their homes and chambers were vandalised. Das, who has been associated with the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), had been organising multiple rallies in Bangladesh to condemn alleged atrocities against minorities. He was arrested on Monday for alleged "treason" and denied bail and sent to jail by a Chittagong court in a sedition case on Tuesday.
