TMC, BJP spar over West Bengal voter who allegedly took part in Bangladesh protest

Kolkata: The war of words between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party escalated after some pictures were circulated online showing an aide of a student leader of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party taking part in the July-August 2024 student and youth agitation in Bangladesh.

The BJP took a dig at the TMC by suggesting that the party in power in West Bengal should be declared an "international party" by the Election Commission.

The saffron party alleged that Newton Das, who is known to be a close aide of TMC student wing’s leader Debasis Das and a registered voter of Kakdwip in West Bengal, was originally a citizen of Bangladesh and had taken part in the protests, which had led to the fall of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in the neighbouring country in August 2024.

The TMC, on the other hand, cited the case of a BJP panchayat chief, Rina Kabiraj, whose husband, Sanjit Kabiraj, was a citizen of Bangladesh. Rina, however, said that she had no connection with her husband.

“We demand the Election Commission of India to grant International Party Status to Trinamool Congress as they have voters from Bangladesh, leaders from Bangladesh, and slogans from Bangladesh,” the BJP’s unit in West Bengal posted on X.

The BJP has been accusing the TMC of facilitating illegal migration of people from across the India-Bangladesh border and helping them settle in West Bengal, thus building a vote-bank loyal to Mamata Banerjee’s party.

Newton Das, however, dismissed the allegations against him and claimed that he was a citizen of India, not Bangladesh. He claimed that the pictures of him participating in the protests in the neighbouring country were all fake.

“The Muslims of Bangladesh are being brought in and given Hindu names to illegally enter the voter list in West Bengal. This is not just a violation of the law, it's a betrayal of Bengal and its people” the BJP’s West Bengal unit alleged.