Trinamool Congress leaders on Thursday took part in a rally against global terrorism and the “attempt of the BJP to link every instance of violence with Islam”. The rally, organised by a minority outfit — Bangiyo Sankhyalaghu Buddhijibi Mancha (BSBM) — started from College Square and ended at Y Channel in central Kolkata. State Minority Affairs Minister Giasuddin Molla and Food Processing Industries and Horticulture Minister Abdur Rezzak Molla joined the rally at Y Channel. While Trinamool MP Mukul Roy is the chairman of BSBM, a number of top party leaders are its members. On the arrest of youths from Bengal with suspected Islamic State (IS) links, Giasuddin said: “.Such people are very few in number. They had gone astray from the right path, mostly owing to their socio economic background.” Slamming the BJP-led Centre, he said: “The BJP doesn’t let go of any opportunity to malign Islam and Muslims. They relate every instance of violence with Islam. Those who deal in terror have no religion.” Rezzak too said Islamic inscriptions begins with the word ‘eqra’, meaning “read”. “Islam has said that if need be, you might travel to China to gather knowledge. It has stressed upon education and awareness. A few people have been wrongly brainwashed, and owing to their ignorance and frustration, they fall prey to such traps rather than understanding the essence of Islam. giving an opportunity to others to malign Islam,” he said. BSBM state president Sheikh Mohammed Oyazul Haque said BJP was trying to saffronise the country. “If all terror activities were conducted by Muslims, why would they plant a bomb which would kill Muslims only, during Eid namaz in Bangladesh. or the blast at Madina? Terror mongers in our country take the opportunity to taint Islam and tag all Muslims as terrorists. Our rally is against all such terror attacks and people who spread such rumours about Islam,” he added. “We will meet President Pranab Mukherjee on August 8 and submit a memorandum in this regard,” he said.
