Indian citizens being deprived of livelihood by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, Rohingyas: BJP

Kolkata: The BJP on Sunday claimed that Indian citizens from West Bengal, who have been working in other states, were being deprived of their livelihood by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and, in some cases, by Rohingyas.

BJP's state unit president Samik Bhattacharya asserted that Indian Muslims and those Hindus who have come to the country from Bangladesh owing to persecution have nothing to worry about as long as the saffron party is in there.

He also alleged that the ruling Trinamool Congress is afraid that the Election Commission of India (ECI) will identify fake voters if the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is conducted in Bengal.

"Genuine Indian citizens from Bengal, working in other states, are having their livelihood snatched by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and, in some cases, by Rohingyas," the BJP leader said while addressing a press conference here.

Bhattacharya said that illegal voters in West Bengal will be identified just as has happened in Bihar during the SIR of electoral rolls.

"Just the indication that SIR may be done in Bengal has evoked so much fear, so imagine what will happen when it will really take place," he said.

The BJP leader said that the biggest problem that West Bengal is facing is "radicalisation", maintaining that the political upheavals in Bangladesh in the recent months have had some fallout in some border districts of West Bengal.

Bhattacharya said that the central government has pointed out some banned organisations starting to get active within the country, with a north Bengal district being at the focal point.

"This is certainly dangerous for our country's internal security, and this is being compromised in this state," he claimed.

He said that on this issue raised by the Union government, several BJP-ruled and non-BJP-ruled states have started checking the identities of migrant labourers from West Bengal.

"Those apprehended during such checks have admitted to being Bangladeshis and that they have obtained fake identity cards here," the BJP leader said.

Justifying the Delhi Police's action, pointing to "Bangladeshi language", the BJP leader said that there is a distinctive difference in the dialect of the Bengali language spoken and written in West Bengal with that of Bangladesh.

The TMC on Sunday posted a letter, on its X handle, claiming that the officer-in-charge of a police station in New Delhi has written to the Banga Bhawan in the national capital, seeking a translator for "Bangladeshi national language" following the arrest of eight people, suspected to have illegally crossed over into India from the neighbouring country.

Alleging that BJP workers are being attacked by the ruling TMC and harassed by the state police, Bhattacharya said, "These are not stray incidents. These are happening in different parts of West Bengal." He alleged that even TMC workers are being subjected to attacks, and incidents of murders are also taking place due to intra-party factional clashes.

"Many of these victim families, in their initial reactions, have demanded a CBI investigation into such incidents as they don't have confidence in the current dispensation in the state," he claimed.

The BJP state president, however, admitted that in several cases, the pace of ongoing CBI probes into crimes in the state has been slow.

"We do not deny it, and we are unhappy," he said. "We want CBI investigations to be more fast-paced," Bhattacharya said.

Pointing to TMC's Bardhaman-Durgapur MP Kirti Azad, who was earlier with the BJP and recently demanded an investigation by central agencies into alleged illegal mining, Bhattacharya said that the former India cricketer has not been able to destroy the saffron party's DNA in him completely.

"He (Azad) had on July 23 demanded a CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into illegal mining, but has withdrawn the demand on August 2," he said.

Maintaining that the BJP was, however, viewing the demand for CBI and ED probe seriously, Bhattacharya said that party MPs will meet Union Minister of Mines G Kishan Reddy on Monday to urge him to take appropriate steps.

Stating that the parents of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital doctor, who was raped and murdered a year ago, met the BJP leadership here on Saturday about a protest march on the anniversary of the gruesome incident on August 9, he said that the party expresses solidarity with them but will not make a political presence there.

"If any BJP leader or worker wants to go, he/she can but will not make any political statement from the platform or hold the party's flag," Bhattacharya said.

He said that BJP workers will participate in the protest rally, demanding justice for the deceased doctor, which he described as a social cause, without displaying their political leanings.

"We will inform the persons concerned about what the victim's parents told us, but since the CBI is no longer 'a caged parrot', we cannot make any commitment," he said.

The parents had moved court seeking further investigation into the rape and murder of their daughter, claiming that there were others involved in the crime.

The CBI is probing an alleged conspiracy in the rape and murder of the on-duty doctor, whose body was found in a seminar room of the hospital.

A man, Sanjay Roy, was sentenced to imprisonment till the end of his natural life by the Sealdah sessions court after finding him guilty of the crime.