In an aggressive expansion mode in West Bengal, the BJP on Monday alleged that 1.50 crore ‘infiltrators’ have settled in the State, were enrolled in the voters’ list and given ration cards on account of the “appeasement policy” of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. It should be inquired into by the Govern-ment, the BJP demanded.
“Bengalis in West Bengal are increasingly feeling that their status is in danger with the presence of large scale infiltrators from Bangladesh,” said BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, also in-charge of the State.
Charging the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Chief Minister Banerjee with not believing in “democracy”, Vijayvargiya said bureaucracy in West Bengal has been “highly politicised” with “ police stations in the State operating as TMC offices”.
The BJP has stepped up its “aggressive posture” in the State after it stood second in a bypoll result last month pushing the CPI to the third place with the Congress standing fourth. Though the TMC retained its ‘Kanthi Dakshin’ (Central South Kolkata) Assembly seat, the BJP’s candidate emerged second after bagging 52,843 votes, witnessing a 22 per cent increase in its vote share since the 2016 Assembly election.
last Tuesday, BJP president Amit Shah launched from West Bengal’s Naxalbiri region a major drive to strengthen party organisation across the country. Shah who spent three days in the State is expected to revisit West Bengal, one of the States where the BJP seeks to strategise its organisational expansion.
Vijayvargiya said people of Bengal are rapidly disenchanted with Banerjee who “does not believe in democracy”. He alleged that law and order has deteriorated under TMC and politics has been criminalised.
The BJP leader said Banerjee is indulging in “vote bank politics of appeasement” and alleged that 1.50 crore Bangladeshi “infiltrators” have settled in the State carrying ration and Aadhaar cards and voting rights. “It should be investigated,” he said.
He said while persecuted minorities from Bangladesh should be given shelter in West Bengal, majority Muslims from the neghbouring country cannot be allowed to settle in the State.
On Banerjee’s meeting with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in “loop” for a “Mahagathbandhan”, he said, “It is in their imagination”.