Bangladeshi Muslims should be pushed back: Praveen Togadia

KOLKATA: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today demanded that Muslims who had come from Bangladesh should be treated as infiltrators and pushed back.

" Infiltration should be finished in India," VHP international working president Praveen Togadia said adding the issue was posing a serious threat to the security of Indians.

"There is a security threat to several states due to infiltration. The centre and the concerned state governments should work together to fight against trans-border terrorist elements", he said referring to the October 2 blast in Burdwan which claimed the lives of two suspected terrorists.

On Hindus coming from Bangladesh, Togadia said they were doing so as they were persecuted in that country. The Hindus from Bangladesh should be accorded refugee status and given permanent citizenship, he told a news conference.

Togadia claimed that there were more than 50,000 Hindus who had come from Bangladesh due to persecution in that country. Infiltration, he said, was not restricted to West Bengal but other states like Assam and Jharkhand were serving as gateways for them.

He was also vocal against China's dumping of goods in the country and urged the Centre to take steps to check it or else lakhs of Indians would lose their jobs.