NEW DELHI, Dec 26: The hoteliers’ associations in two districts of West Bengal, on Friday have decided to close the doors of their hotels and lodges to the Bangladeshi nationals as a mark of protest against the recent lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, a Hindu garment factory worker, and also over the unbridled atrocities on the minorities under the Muhammad Yunus regime.
Although the hoteliers’ associations in both districts are yet to decide whether this decision will be applicable in case of Bangladeshi tourists coming to India with medical visas for treatment purposes, the majority of members of both associations are in favour of including this category of Bangladeshi tourists under this ban.
The two districts where the respective hoteliers’ associations have taken this decision are Darjeeling and Malda, both in the northern sector of West Bengal and both having international borders with Bangladesh. However, the border area in the Darjeeling district is relatively smaller than the one in the minority-dominated Malda district.
The local chambers of commerce in both these districts have welcomed the decisions of both the hoteliers’ associations. According to the Malda Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association secretary, Krishenendu Chowdhury, the decision to refuse room allotment for Bangladeshi owners was taken unanimously by all the members of our association.
“Currently, there is not a single Bangladeshi tourist in any of the hotels in our district. We are yet to decide whether this ban will also apply to the Bangladeshi tourists coming with a medical visa for treatment purposes. We will have another round of meetings soon and take a decision on this count,” Chowdhury said.
While the hoteliers’ association in Malda was yet to decide, their fellow association in the Darjeeling district, christened Siliguri Hoteliers’ Welfare Association, has decided to include Bangladeshi tourists coming on medical visas and students’ visas under this ban. “The manner in which the leaders in Bangladesh are making insensitive statements on the Siliguri Corridor, Chicken Neck Sector and Seven Sisters, is highly objectionable. At the same time, unbridled atrocities on the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh have reached an extreme level,” said the Association Secretary Ujjal Ghosh.
(Manas Dasgupta)