Trinamool Congress Minister Firhad Hakim has shamelessly downplayed atrocities committed against Hindus in Murshidabad and their eventual exodus to the nearby Malda district.
While speaking to news agency ANI on Monday (14th April), he claimed, “There is no such situation here. They are going from one part of Bengal to another. Bengal is safe, so they are migrating within the State.”
“Everything is okay…One incident has happened. There is nothing to make a big deal out of it,” Hakim was heard saying.
#WATCH | Kolkata | On Murshidabad exodus, TMC leader and West Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim says, "They are migrating within Bengal only… Everything is alright… The situation happened, it happened… Though it is condemnable and police will uncover who was behind it…" pic.twitter.com/4KH5A5hLmv
— ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2025
This is not the first time when the Mayor of Kolkata has been in the news for the wrong reasons. In April 2016, he had dubbed a Muslim-dominated area of Kolkata as ‘Mini-Pakistan‘
In February 2021, he was spotted delivering a political speech at a masjid in Kolkata, in blatant violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
To pacify Muslim rioters during the anti-CAA movement, Firhad Hakim referred to them as ‘brothers.’ He was also seen referring to the Central Armed forces and the BJP as ‘Suar er baccha‘ (progency of pigs).
Hakim had openly endorsed the Urduisation of Bengal and claimed, “Inshallah, one day will come when half of the population of Bengal will speak Urdu and recite poetry.”
