ECI data bursts BJP’s ‘Rohingya’ claim: Abhishek

The BJP’s carefully crafted conspiracy to brand West Bengal as a “breeding ground for infiltrators” has collapsed under the weight of facts, said Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

The Election Commission’s draft voter list released on Tuesday has shattered BJP’s sensational claims of one to one-and-a-half crore Rohingya deletions, exposing a deliberate attempt to defame Bengal and polarise communities for electoral gains, said the TMC MP.

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Abhishek Banerjee upped the ante and said: “Will those who insulted 10 crore Bengalis have the courage to apologise publicly?”

Further launching a scathing attack on the BJP’s divisive politics he said, “Those, who maligned Bengal by calling it a hub of infiltrators and made claims of 1 to 1.5 crore Rohingyas have effectively had their claims rejected by the Election Commission of India itself.”

“In any case, there is a 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent deletion every time the SIR is conducted. This time, the 24 lakh names identified as deceased roughly amount to about 2 per cent of the population. The conspiracy with which the BJP tried to use the Election Commission to conduct SIR in Bengal has completely failed. Those who insulted Bengal by calling it a breeding ground for Bangladeshis should come before the public and apologise to the 10-crore people of Bengal.”

Launching an attack on Amit Shah, Abhishek said: “If infiltration is the issue, the person who must answer is Union home minister Amit Shah, who controls the borders and commands the CRPF.”

“Leave Bengal aside, look at what happened in Pahalgam. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has nothing to do with Kashmir Police. Then how are infiltrators entering there? In Delhi, just days before the Bihar election results were declared on November 11, people died in a blast, whose responsibility was that? Those who brand Bengalis as infiltrators, harass them, deport them, and even deny Bengali as a language have unleashed targeted torture on Bengalis. Sonali Khatun, whose parents’ names appear in the 2002 voter list, was still deported to Bangladesh. Only after the Supreme Court intervened was she repatriated. I am meeting her and her family in two days. We stood by them throughout, and I want to say clearly, if anyone else is facing such harassment, Trinamul Congress is with you.”