Rohingya crisis: India for talks on ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in UN
agencies kept a close watch on HS members, claiming that the group’s activists were involved in violent activities.
HS vice-president Devdutta Maji denied that the outfit was involved in any illegal activities but boasted that they had “managed to instil courage in members of Hindu community, which is the need of the hour”.
“There are Hindus displeased with Mamata Banerjee’s Muslim appeasement but are happy with other aspects of her governance, or do not see BJP as an alternative. We provide a platform to Hindus from all political camps,” he added.
Ghosh had been a strong critic of Banerjee’s ‘politics of Muslim appeasement’ but softened his stand against her since 2014, when BJP and RSS started gaining ground in Bengal.
“If Hindus can bargain more from Mamata , why should Hindus support BJP unconditionally? Our role is to bargain for Hindus from politicians, just like Muslims bargain for their community,” Ghosh said.
Trinamool Congress denies having any link with HS but that hasn’t stopped the CPI(M) from hinting towards an alleged tie-up between the two.
“We found during spot visits that many of those involved in recent riots were TMC workers by day and Hindu Samhati activists by night,” CPI(M) MP and politburo member Mohammad Salim told HT. He described HS as Trinamool’s ‘Hindutva card’ which the party used to balance the backlash of ‘supporting Muslim fundamentalists’.
India supported discussions in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ and the prevention of genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing as the world body takes up the issue after 12 years in the backdrop of Rohingya crisis.
India has agreed for the talks on the understanding that there won’t be any adoption of the resolution by the UNGA. New Delhi also hopes that “normative concepts at stake require careful deliberation”.
As many as 113 countries, including India, voted in favour while 21 others, including Pakistan, Iran and Cuba, opposed the idea of having a debate. Seventeen members abstained.
In his explanation of the vote, Syed Akbaruddin, India’s permanent representative to the UN, said that the talks on the concept required open, inclusive and transparent deliberation.
“The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ was one of the foremost of every state and, as such, India would support the inclusion of such an item on the agenda for the current session,” he said.
Akbaruddin said India is voting in support including it on the agenda of the 72nd session of the General Assembly with the understanding that the sponsors of the proposal aim to have a debate at the current session only.
“They have articulated their objective as wanting to have a thematic debate and not one that addresses country-specific situations, and have also indicated that they do not seek the adoption of any resolution,” said Akbaruddin.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 12 YEARS, UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTED TO INCLUDE TALKS ON ‘RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT’ ON THE FORMAL AGENDA