A group of around 50 people, mostly from West Bengal and staying in the city, gathered near Churchgate railway station on Saturday to protest alleged lawlessness and religious and human rights violations in that State.

The protestors raised slogans like ‘Save Democracy, Save Bengal, Save India” and ‘Mamata hatao, Bengal bachao”. “We are all connected via social media and have gathered to voice our concern on the religious and human rights violations in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee’s government should wake up and introspect before the situation becomes like Kashmir’s,” Somen Mukherjee, a financial consultant, said.

He added, “The situation in Basirhat and Badauria was not paid heed to. This is because polarisation in Bengal helps Mamata Banerjee as she gets the Muslim votes. Vote bank politics has led to lawlessness in Bengal.” Mr. Mukherjee is also trying to create a Pravasi Bengali Forum in Maharashtra to bring Bengalis under one umbrella and create awareness about the situation back home.

Marketing professional Sudipto Das said, “We expected much better from Mamata Banerjee after the Left Front rule which has seen our State deteriorating on all fronts, be it education, industry or employment.”

“To please the 28% Muslims in the State, she let a riot-like situation escalate in Basirhat and action was taken only against Hindus. She is letting Bangladeshi refugees coming in to build her vote bank,” said Rajesh Sarkar, a sales professional.

The protest was attended by non-Bengalis too. “MLAs of the Trinamool Congress Party are complacent and people have lost all hope. The only sane voice from Bengal is coming from the Governor, and he should work with the Central government to impose President’s Rule to. Bengal is a border State and the situation is critical,” said city resident Ankur Tripathi.

Deepak Kaul, a Kashmiri Pandit and an IT professional, said, “As a victim of communal violence myself, I sympathise with the citizens of Bengal and the apathy of the Mamata Banerjee government must stop.”