As Bengal’s Murshidabad simmers due to violence over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, local Trinamool Congress MP and former cricketer Yusuf Pathan is drawing fire for an Instagram post in which he is seen relaxing and enjoying a cup of tea.

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A post shared by Yusuf Pathan (@yusuf_pathan)

Mr Pathan shared three pictures on Instagram two days back, with the caption, “Easy afternoons, good chai, and calm surroundings. Just soaking in the moment.” Shortly after, social media users started criticising him for the post at a time when Murshidabad was tense due to the violence. One user asked, “Do you have any shame?”

Bengal is burning
HC has said it can’t keep eyes closed and deployed centra forces

Mamata Banerjee is encouraging such state protected violence as Police stays silent!

Meanwhile Yusuf Pathan – MP sips tea and soaks in the moment as Hindus get slaughtered…

This is TMC pic.twitter.com/P1Yr7MYjAM

— Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) April 13, 2025

The BJP hit out at the Trinamool MP and accused the Mamata Banerjee government of encouraging state-protected violence. “Bengal is burning. HC has said it can’t keep eyes closed and deployed central forces. Mamata Banerjee is encouraging such state protected violence as Police stays silent! Meanwhile Yusuf Pathan – MP sips tea and soaks in the moment as Hindus get slaughtered. This is TMC,” BJP’s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla has said in a post on X.

Mr Pathan is yet to react to the criticism.

Supporters of Left parties, too, have slammed Yusuf Pathan for his tone-deaf post. 

Three people have been killed in the violence at Murshidabad in north Bengal after protests against the Waqf Amendment Act, recently passed in Parliament, turned violent. The Calcutta High Court yesterday ordered the deployment of central forces in the district. “We cannot turn a blind eye to the various reports that have surfaced which prima facie shows vandalism in few districts of the State of West Bengal,” the court said. “Constitutional Courts cannot be a mute spectator and embroil itself in technical defences when the safety and security of the people are at danger,” the bench added.

Yusuf Pathan, a former Team India cricketer and brother of Irfan Pathan, is a Lok Sabha MP from Baharampur, one of three parliamentary constituencies in Murshidabad district. Violence has been reported in Suti, Dhuliya, Samserganj and some other areas in the district. Out of these three areas, Samserganj and Dhuliya are in Maldaha Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency and Suti in Jangipur. While Congress’s Isha Khan Choudhury is MP from Maldaha Dakshin, Trinamool’s Khalilur Rahaman represents Jangipur. 

In last year’s general election, Mr Pathan defeated five-time MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in what was considered a Congress bastion. During the election, the Trinamool’s political rivals had questioned why Mr Pathan, based in Gujarat’s Baroda, was being fielded as an MP candidate in Bengal. The row over his Instagram post and his silence over the violence has fuelled public anger against the former cricketer. 

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1. Murshidabad is among the areas in Bengal that have erupted in protest after the Parliament passed the Waqf Amendment Bill, which introduces key changes to laws governing the management of Waqf properties across the country.
2. Among the affected areas are Suti, Dhulian, Samserganj and Jangipur areas. State police have now said that the situation is under control and prohibitory orders are in place to prevent large gatherings.
3. The Calcutta High Court has ordered the deployment of central forces to keep the peace. The court yesterday said the situation is “grave and volatile”. “Constitutional Courts cannot be a mute spectator and embroil itself in technical defences when the safety and security of the people are at danger,” it said.
4. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appealed for calm and said those behind the riots were harming society. She said it is the Centre, and not the state government, that has brought the law in question. Ms Banerjee has reiterated that her party does not support the Waqf Amendment Act.
5. Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, has alleged that more than 400 Hindus have been forced to flee their homes. “Religious persecution in Bengal is real. Appeasement politics of TMC has emboldened radical elements. Hindus are being hunted, our people are running for their lives in their own land,” he has said.
6. Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has expressed concern over the violent and welcomed the Calcutta High Court’s direction. “I’m glad that the High Court has stepped in and given the appropriate decision at the appropriate time,” he has said.
7. Violence in the Muslim-dominated Murshidabad district began on April 8, when stones were thrown at police and some police vehicles set on fire. Earlier, massive protests were held in other parts of the state, including capital Kolkata, against the new law.
8. West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar has said that the state government had told the police not to tolerate any hooliganism. He said the protests started with a demonstration, destruction of public property followed and then it took a communal angle.
9. Politically, the violence over the Waqf Amendment Act comes as a big challenge for Mamata Banerjee, who is gearing up for an Assembly poll battle next year to clinch a fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister.
10. The violence also comes at a time when the state government faces protests by over 26,000 teachers whose appointments have been cancelled by the Supreme Court over gross irregularities in the recruitment process.