Latest news with #anti-Bengali
Scroll.in
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
‘Hindus will suffer more': BJP's ‘Bangladeshi' politics could alienate its refugee vote in Bengal
'I have decided that I will now speak in Bangla even more frequently,' Mamata Banerjee declared at a Trinamool Congress protest in Kolkata on Wednesday. 'I dare you to put me in a detention centre before arresting any other Bengali speakers.' The three-term chief minister's words were directed at the Bharatiya Janata Party, her principal political opponent in West Bengal. Banerjee rattled off a list of incidents from Maharashtra, Delhi and Chhattisgarh to claim that nearly 1,000 Bengalis were detained in BJP-ruled states under allegations that they were Bangladeshi citizens. She also highlighted BJP demands for a Bihar-style special intensive revision to remove so-called Bangladeshi voters from Bengal's electoral rolls. Banerjee's statements made it clear that the Trinamool will counter the BJP's citizenship politics by mounting a charged campaign to try and portray the BJP as 'anti-Bengali'. Notably, Trinamool Congress has focussed its messaging on Hindu refugee groups residing in West Bengal, such as Matuas and Rajbanshis, who have, of late, strongly supported the BJP. On Thursday, it flagged the arrest of five Matuas in Pune, Maharashtra. Earlier, on July 8, Banerjee had herself taken up the case of a Rajbanshi man, who was allegedly being harassed by Assam officials. Both Maharashtra and Assam are currently governed by the BJP. Analysts and politicians – including those from the Bengal BJP – told Scroll that the Trinamool's anti-Bengali charge could make things difficult for the saffron party. Bengalis are being detained, branded as 'outsiders', and even deported while carrying valid documents in hand. From NRC notices to map erasure, the attacks aren't random, they're deliberate. It's time we connect the dots. Watch this and understand what's at stake. — All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 17, 2025 A voter roll revision in Bengal? Rahul Sinha, a senior member of the BJP's state executive in West Bengal, said that Mamata Banerjee had come out so strongly because her 'core voter' was under threat. 'There are one crore Bangladeshis registered as voters here,' he alleged, echoing similar claims made by West Bengal's Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari. 'Mamata Banerjee is doing nothing to identify them, that is why other states have to take such steps.' When asked if the expulsion drive could push Bengali Muslims further towards Trinamool Congress, Sinha added: 'We don't care about Muslims because we know they will not vote for us. We just have to ensure that Hindus are not affected.' He demanded a revision of West Bengal's voter lists along the lines of the ongoing exercise in Bihar. 'If the names of 10%-15% Bangladeshi Muslims are deleted from the voter list, Mamata's reign will end,' Sinha said. 'The more her voters are removed, the fewer additional votes we will need.' He is not alone. Many top BJP politicians from West Bengal have made the same demand. Sinha dismissed Trinamool's outreach to Hindu refugee groups as fear - mongering and said his party would counter it by telling Hindu voters that only Bangladeshi Muslims were being deported. 'Hindus will suffer more' However, not all BJP leaders in Bengal are as confident as Sinha. A member of the party's state executive told Scroll that voter list revision based on verifying citizenship would affect the party adversely. 'Not only the Muslims, Hindus will suffer more,' he said, requesting anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. 'Hindus born after 1987 will also have to show that their parents were from here. They may all be Bangladeshi Hindus who came after 1970. If they are not allowed to vote, BJP will lose in West Bengal.' The Citizenship Act recognises those born between July 1, 1987 and December 3, 2004 as Indian citizens by birth only if one of their parents was also a citizen of the country at that time. For those born after December 3, 2004, the law requires both parents to be Indian citizens. West Bengal, like other Indian states bordering Bangladesh, saw successive waves of refugees coming in both before and after the 1971 war. The stipulations of the citizenship act, therefore, have long been a sore point for Bengali Hindu refugee communities. The Modi government introduced an amendment in 2019 to remedy this grievance by creating a pathway to citizenship for non-Muslim refugees even if they had entered India illegally. But it dragged its feet on implementing the policy for over four years. When it did finally roll out the rules for people to apply, the process turned out to be a 'mess', according to the BJP leader quoted earlier. 'Many people are confused because they submitted a lot of documents but they have not got citizenship,' said a BJP MLA from North Bengal, who also requested not to be named. 'There are many Hindus who have been here for a long time. Despite being an MLA, I don't clearly know what I can do to help them.' Given this backdrop, he worried that Trinamool would convince many voters that all refugees, and not just Muslims, were at risk. 'There are many people from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes living in this region,' the BJP MLA added. 'Most of them came from East Bengal [now Bangladesh]. Trinamool is able to generate fear in their minds easily. We are trying to convince them but they are not fully satisfied with what we say.' Mukut Mani Adhikari, a prominent Matua leader who left BJP to join Trinamool in 2024, said this was because refugees had lost trust in the saffron party. Describing Matuas, Rajbanshis and other refugee communities as the party's backbone in the state, he decried it for supposedly betraying them. 'It is very unfortunate that BJP has plotted this scheme to snatch away the citizenship of those who formed its foundations in West Bengal,' the Ranaghat MLA said. 'Whether it be the Citizenship Amendment Act or the attacks on Bengalis across the country, Mamata Banerjee is the only one who is fighting for them.' Don't you DARE call it an 'assessment' or 'verification' @BJP4India. This is a full-blown, targeted ASSAULT on Bengali-speaking Indians. You hate us because we come from a state that has rejected your filthy, divisive politics time and again. 5 innocent BENGALI-SPEAKING HINDUS… — All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 17, 2025 Bengali identity politics Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya, professor at the Centre for Political Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, was also skeptical of the efficacy of the BJP's Bengal strategy. The saffron party's indifference to Muslims, who make up about 30% of the vote in the state, means that it would have to get more than half of the Hindu vote to win, he estimated. That would be difficult, Bhattacharyya explained, because Mamata Banerjee's careful calibration of identity politics has boxed the BJP in. 'By building a Jagannath temple, raising a distinctly Bengali Hindu voice – invoking the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh and Bengali migrants elsewhere – she has blunted the BJP's usual narrative,' he said. 'It's no longer easy to paint her as anti-Hindu or blindly pro-Muslim.' The Jagannath temple he mentioned is located in Digha, a beach town in West Bengal, and was inaugurated on April 30 by the chief minister herself. The state government's decision to bear the cost of its construction had led to controversy at the time. Trinamool Congress has repeatedly used the temple as a means to woo Hindu Bengali voters since its doors opened for worshippers. It even distributed prasad to households across the state in June, imitating a Hindutva practice that came to light in the run-up to the Ram temple inauguration in Ayodhya last January. The Trinamool's emphasis on Bengali identity as a way to counter the BJP's Bangladeshi labelling will likely work because it has managed to present itself as the natural party of Bengalis, explained Kolkata-based political scientist Maidul Islam. Its particular form of Bengali assertion, he said, had found resonance in the state's villages and small towns. 'The conditions for this kind of identity assertion were always there but the communists [who ruled the state from 1977-2011] balanced regional identity with class politics,' Islam contended. Mamata Banerjee, on the other hand, has freely used Bengali cultural pride to further her politics, he said. 'She started the Durga Puja carnival on Kolkata's Red Road,' Islam added. 'Many Trinamool leaders come from Puja committees. So the campaign to show Mamata as anti-Hindu may have some audience in Northern and Western India but it doesn't have any takers in Bengal.' Smt. @MamataOfficial graced the 2024 Durga Pujo Carnival at Red Road, celebrating the grand immersion procession with thousands of people. The carnival marked the culmination of celebrations, with the people of Bengal already looking forward to Maa Durga's return next year. — All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) October 15, 2024 Identity versus anti-incumbency However, Mohammed Salim, West Bengal secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), questioned how effective the Trinamool's Bengali identity push could be in the face of rising anti-incumbency. The outrage from Mamata Banerjee over Assam officials allegedly harassing a Rajabanshi was ironic, he argued, since it was her police which went to his doorstep six months earlier. 'She is playing to the gallery now,' Salim said. 'This is an emotive issue. Anti-incumbency is so high here that if people talk about day-to-day issues such as women's safety, education and health, Trinamool will be at the receiving end of public anger. They want to avoid that.'
News18
20-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
Bengal BJP Chief Calls Urgent Delhi Meet Tomorrow To Counter TMC Attack In Parliament
Last Updated: Tomorrow's meeting is expected to chalk out talking points for MPs, prepare rebuttals, plan floor interventions, media outreach, and coordinated messaging on social platforms Amid growing tension between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress over the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants, the West Bengal unit of the saffron party has sprung into action with chief Samik Bhattacharya calling a high-level strategy meeting in Delhi on Monday (July 21). The larger message the BJP wants to push is that the TMC is allegedly risking national security by providing Aadhaar cards to illegal Bangladeshis for political benefits. Bhattacharya will hold a meeting with all the BJP MPs from West Bengal, ahead of the monsoon session and will arrive in New Delhi late on Sunday. The meeting's agenda is to finalise the BJP's counter to the TMC's 'BJP is anti-Bengali" narrative — the Mamata Banerjee-led party is expected to vociferously push this on the floor of both Houses in the coming days. According to sources, the BJP is anticipating a coordinated and 'all-out" offensive by TMC MPs, targeting central leadership as well as state representatives, particularly over the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking Muslims in BJP-ruled states. The TMC has claimed that these individuals are Indians, while the local administration suspects them to be Bangladeshis. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently led a march in Kolkata to protest the alleged harassment of Bengali speakers in BJP-ruled states. 'What does the BJP think? They will hurt Bengalis? They are calling them Rohingya. Rohingya are in Myanmar, not here. 22 lakh poor migrant workers are being targeted," Banerjee said. Banerjee also had a spat with Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma over the treatment of Bengali-speaking individuals in his state. She further raised the issue of how electricity was disconnected in a Delhi locality primarily occupied by Bengali-speaking migrants, which the BJP claimed was as per court orders. The BJP has repeatedly alleged that the TMC is risking national security by providing Aadhaar cards to illegal Bangladeshis for political benefits. The TMC has countered this by saying these individuals are Indians and Bengali, accusing the BJP of an 'anti-Bengali" mindset — a charge that, if believed by Bengal, could cost the BJP with elections seven to eight months away. Hence, the meeting on Monday is expected to outline talking points for MPs, prepare rebuttals, possibly plan floor interventions, media outreach, and coordinated messaging on social platforms. This flashpoint comes at a time when the TMC is already under fire over corruption allegations and administrative lapses in Bengal. The BJP insiders believe the 'anti-Bengali" rhetoric is an attempt by the TMC to deflect from its governance record and rally regional sentiment ahead of the assembly elections next year. With emotions likely to run high, both sides seem to be preparing for a fiery face-off in Parliament next week. view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Time of India
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Modi woos Bengal with Kali-Durga chants amid TMC's bias barbs
1 2 Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's second rally in seven weeks in Bengal, in the industrial township of Durgapur on Friday, started with a "Jai Ma Kali, Jai Ma Durga" homage to the state's two biggest Hindu deities and largely focused on the BJP's commitment to Bengal's cultural and industrial development. Other leaders like former MP Locket Chatterjee and assembly opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari started with the customary "Jai Sri Ram" slogan but the BJP supremo's eschewing of Ram and his focus on Bengal's deities and past political, cultural and industrial icons (like Bidhan Chandra Roy, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Kadambini Ganguly, Dwarkanath Tagore and Bishnu Dey) gave a glimpse of the BJP's strategy in the run-up to the 2026 assembly poll: harp on the BJP's connect with Bengal to offset the Trinamool's hammer-and-tongs campaign against "the harassment and torture of Bengalis in BJP-ruled states". The PM took the Trinamool's campaign head-on, stating "infiltrators will be investigated as per the provisions in the legal system". "We will not allow a conspiracy against Bengal's asmita. It is Modi's guarantee," he said to a cheering crowd. "The Trinamool is putting Bengal's identity at stake in trying to protect illegal immigrants and that has become a threat to national security," he added, dovetailing barbs against "the Trinamool's appeasement politics" with the the new focus on "Bengali pride". You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Modi also brought up the "classical language status" for Bengali, taking credit for "a BJP initiative", while accusing the Trinamool and the Left Front of never caring for the language. "Bengali asmita is of the highest importance for the BJP. People of Bengal get respect wherever there is BJP," he said, seeking to refute the Trinamool's recent campaign "anti-Bengali" against the BJP. CM Mamata Banerjee hit the streets of Kolkata with other Trinamool seniors in a rally that also showcased several Bengali migrant labourers, who recounted the torture they underwent at police's hands in BJP-governed states. The Trinamool was "anti-development", Modi said, attributing the flight of Bengal's youth to other states to that. "People across the country used to come here for employment. The trend has changed now. Existing industries are closing down. We have to pull Bengal out of this situation," he said. The PM wove this narrative with the BJP's usual anti-Trinamool litany as he blamed its use of "syndicate raj, gunda tax and mafia control" for driving out industries. "It formulates policies encouraging corruption. Its sudden changes of policy hinder investment. Which industrialist will dare to come to a state where there are riots?" he asked. Bengal's voters wanted "paribartan (change)" and "unnayan (development)", Modi said. "Give us a chance. Bengal needs an imandaar (honest), kamdaar (efficient) and damdaar (strong) administration. "Bengal will be counted among the country's top industrialised states if the BJP comes to office," he said, going back to the BJP's "double-engine" slogan of 2021 that did not work too well, with the Trinamool coming back to office winning 215 of the total 294 seats. Modi also touched on the law-and-order situation, specifically mentioning the recent grang rape of a first-year students at a law college in Kolkata. "Hospitals are not safe for women. The Trinamool protected the accused when a daughter was tortured in a hospital. And another woman has been brutalised in a college even before the memory of that incident has faded," he said, before going to the "scams" in the education system. "The Trinamool has launched a double attack of corruption and crime on Bengal's education system. Thousands of teachers lost their jobs because of corruption. Even the courts said it was a systemic fraud. Only the Trinamool's ouster can bring real change in Bengal," Modi said. The PM earlier laid foundation stones for projects worth Rs 5,400 crore for sectors like oil and natural gas, road and rail transport and cleaner energy production.
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Bengal BJP takes aim at ‘protection of illegal immigrants'
Kolkata: Bengal BJP on Wednesday intensified its campaign against what it perceives as the legitimisation of illegal immigrants by . BJP alleged that Trinamool's protests were an attempt to politicise Bengali identity and protect illegal immigrants. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya accused TMC of fostering anti-Bengali sentiment, which he claimed was causing trouble for migrant workers in other states. He alleged that fake Aadhaar cards were being issued to illegal immigrants, particularly affecting Muslim workers in North 24 Parganas and Murshidabad. Bhattacharya emphasised that while no Indian citizen, Hindu or Muslim, would be expelled from the country, those involved in vandalism in Bangladesh would find no refuge in India. State leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari echoed these sentiments, accusing CM Mamata Banerjee of attempting to shelter Rohingya who crossed the border illegally. He claimed these illegal immigrants possessed fake Aadhaar and Voter ID cards and called for their removal, asserting that the integrity of the electoral rolls must be maintained. He and other BJP MLAs on Wednesday marched to the office of the chief electoral officer to demand that Bengal's voter rolls be cleared of Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators. Junior Union minister Sukanta Majumdar supported the scrutiny of Aadhaar and voter cards, saying that it was necessary to protect national integrity. He pointed out that similar measures were being taken in Punjab, a non-BJP state, suggesting that Trinamool's allegations of conspiracy were unfounded. Bhattacharya further warned of a "silent demographic invasion" due to Bengal's porous 2,200km border with Bangladesh, and claimed there was a longstanding design to transform Bengal into an Islamic state. He said BJP had submitted a list of 13 lakh fake voters to Election Commission and urged that action be taken.
Malaysia Sun
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Malaysia Sun
Assam: Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi arrive in Guwahati for party's PAC meet; Gogoi says Congress will fight for justice for people
Guwahati (Assam) [India], July 16 (ANI): Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday morning arrived in Guwahati ahead of the party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting. They were received by Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi at the Guwahati airport. Both leaders will also attend the meeting of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) office bearers, MPs, and MLAs, as well as the Congress Workers' meeting. Speaking to ANI, Gogoi asserted that Congress in Assam will fight for justice for all people who were living under 'a regime of fear and terror' and were facing persecution by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government here. 'The message is very clear that the Congress party in Assam will fight for the justice of all the people of Assam who are living under a regime of fear and terror. We will fight for the dignity of all people who are currently facing persecution by this corrupt and cruel BJP government. Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi will send a message that there is no need to fear,' Gogoi said. Accusing the Himanta Biswa Sarma government of 'grabbing land of the poor', the Assam Congress president claimed that the Chief Minister has donated close to 17,000 acres of land to industrialists from outside without consulting the locals. 'The CM and his colleagues are grabbing the land of the poor people. The CM of Assam is acting like a real estate broker and has donated close to 17,000 acres of land to outside industrialists without taking the local people into confidence. They are displacing the tribals, minorities, and the Congress party will fight for the self-respect, dignity and land rights of people of Assam,' Gogoi added. Earlier on Tuesday, Sarma informed that a total of 1,19,548 bighas of land have been freed from encroachers in the ongoing eviction drive in the state. The Assam CM said, 'After we formed the government, so far 84,743 bighas of land in forest and national park areas have been freed from encroachers. A total of 1,19,548 bighas of land have been freed from encroachers.' He also accused Trinamool Congress (TMC) of portraying his government's firm stance against illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims as anti-Bengali. He said the alleged attempt is nothing but a desperate ploy to shield Muslim infiltrators from the neighbouring country. (ANI)
