After assuming power in Bengal, CM Mamata changed her stance on illegal infiltration: Amit Malviya

Kolkata, July 16 (IANS) BJP’s Information Technology cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, on Wednesday, accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on changing her stance on illegal infiltration since Trinamool Congress assumed power in the state in 2021, ousting the previous 24-year long Left Front regime.

Ridiculing Mamata Banerjee’s statement earlier in the day accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of bias, Malviya pointed out how, once as a Lok Sabha member, the Trinamool Congress supremo had said that the infiltration in West Bengal became a disaster.

Malviya said that West Bengal has over 17 lakh duplicate voters — an issue the BJP has formally raised with the ECI not once, but twice.

He said, ironically, it was Mamata Banerjee herself who stood in the Lok Sabha on 4th August 2005 and said: "The infiltration in Bengal has become a disaster now… I have both the Bangladeshi and Indian voters' lists. This is a very serious matter. I would like to know when it will be discussed in the House?”

"Yet 20 years later, Mamata Banerjee has still not submitted the so-called Bangladeshi voters list. What is she hiding?” stated Malviya in a statement that he posted on the wall of his official X handle on Wednesday afternoon.

At the same time, Malviya also said that it was shameful to see a sitting Chief Minister like Mamata Banerjee defending illegal infiltrators, undermining democracy, and stealing the rights of genuine voters in Bengal.

“Forget what Special Intensive Revision will uncover from August 1 — It is the people of Bengal who will ultimately expose and defeat her in 2026,” Malviya added.

His observations on the matter came soon after Mamata Banerjee addressed a gathering in another part of Kolkata at the end of a rally protesting against the alleged and selective harassment of the Bengal-speaking people in some other states after branding them as illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Ridiculing the protest rally by Trinamool Congress, Malviya posted another X message, where he accused Mamata Banerjee of shamelessly trying to pass off illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas as Bengalis, which, according to him, was an insult to the rich cultural and historical legacy of Bengal.

“True Bengalis will never accept this dangerous and deliberate attempt at cultural imposition. Her nefarious plot will be resisted at every step. Bengal’s identity is not up for political bargaining,” Malviya added.

--IANS

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