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[email protected] To Date: March 18, 2013 H. E. Mr Mayankote Kelath Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal Rajbhaban, Kolkata 700 062 India fax 011 91 3322002444 Re: Act on the politically motivated arrest of Hindu Samhati leader Tapan Ghosh Honorable Sir, The World Hindu Council of America (VHPA) is deeply concerned at the internment of Hindu Samhati leader and social activist Tapan Ghosh, along with many other volunteers. On March 14, 2013, Mr Ghosh was arrested from his residence in Kolkata, West Bengal, India under P.S. Case No. 52/dt 05.02.2012 u/s 295 A, 298 and 120 B (IPC). More than thirty- seven other activists including Bikarna Naskar have also been arrested, over the next few days. Given the proclivity of political parties in Bengal, to play “vote bank” politics, the timing of the arrests, just before the upcoming Panchayat elections, cast serious doubt on the legitimacy of these arrests. The recent inability of the State Government in containing unabated Jihadi violence that engulfed Nalaikhali and surrounding villages in Canning also raises serious questions on the State Government’s intentions. Over the past five years, Hindu Samhati has worked to reach out to the downtrodden population in the rural areas of Bengal, especially in the North and South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum and Midnapore. They have organized youth at the village level, agitated against land grabbing, forced conversion and other atrocities by extremist groups.