As the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was underway, New Town’s Ghuni slum had repeatedly figured in news headlines, with local residents alleging that a majority of its inhabitants were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
On Wednesday evening, the same slum was reduced to ashes in a devastating fire, reigniting a fierce political debate over its timing and intent. The BJP has alleged that the fire was deliberately set by the ruling Trinamul Congress to suppress facts related to the draft voter list published under the SIR exercise. The Trinamul Congress has, however, strongly denied the allegation and accused the BJP of politicising the tragedy. Raising questions over the timing of the blaze, BJP leaders asked why such a massive fire broke out just before the SIR process could progress further.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, in a post on X, claimed that the fire was a “calculated attempt” to cover up the exclusion of names from the draft electoral roll. He alleged that the incident was engineered to facilitate re-enrolment of voters and accused the Trinamul Congress of “playing with fire” to manipulate the electoral process. The ruling party hit back sharply. Trinamul Congress state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said the BJP had always indulged in politics over Bangladeshi infiltration. “Is it not possible that the BJP itself hurriedly set the slum on fire and is now trying to blame Trinamul?” he asked. Referring to Malviya’s earlier claims of “1.5 crore Rohingyas” in the state, Majumdar said such allegations found no reflection in the SIR draft list. “Then why is the BJP spreading misinformation and creating fear among voters in Bengal?” he added, accusing the party of manufacturing narratives on a daily basis.
TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said: “So many homes in New Town have been burnt down, yet the inhumanity of calling those affected people Rohingyas is exactly why the people of Bengal refer to them as “bohiragoto zamindars”. If these people were truly Rohingyas, they would not have been able to submit enumeration forms under the SIR process, nor could they have produced documents dating back to 2002.”
The fire broke out on Wednesday evening near Eco Park in New Town, engulfing the Ghuni slum, which housed over a hundred shanties. Locals claimed that several huts were being vacated amid the SIR exercise when the fire suddenly spread, gutting the settlement within minutes. No casualties were reported, but the incident has left many families homeless and fuelled an intensifying political confrontation.