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Actor Saif Ali Khan attack: Row in Bengal after arrest of suspected Bangladeshi

Jan 19, 2025 07:27 PM IST

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said that INDIA bloc parties that exploit illegal immigrants as vote banks should apologise

Kolkata: The arrest of a suspected Bangladesh national, Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, in the attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan triggered a political row over illegal migration in West Bengal on Sunday.

The Mumbai Police arrested suspected Bangladesh national Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad in actor Saif Ali Khan attack case early on Sunday in Thane. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)
The Mumbai Police arrested suspected Bangladesh national Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad in actor Saif Ali Khan attack case early on Sunday in Thane. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

Targeting the INDIA bloc parties, Bharatiya Janata Party national executive member in charge of the state unit, Amit Malviya, said, “Mumbai Police has confirmed that Mohammad Shariful Islam, who attacked Saif Ali Khan, is an illegal resident, from Bangladesh, and had assumed a Hindu identity. Political parties, like the Congress, TMC, among others in the I.N.D.I Alliance, that exploit illegal immigrants as vote banks and had sought to communalize this incident, to malign Hindus should apologise.”

Addressing a religious event, Bengal BJP unit president and Union minister of state for North-East development, Sukanta Majumdar said, “Parents aspire to see their children becoming doctors or engineers. They should first become good Hindus. Your Hindu identity is of utmost importance. Keep a sharp weapon at home for self-defence. Didi’s (chief minister Mamata Banerjee) police will not save you from danger.”

Talking to a news portal hours later, Majumdar alleged that TMC has helped Rohingyas settle down in large numbers in Kolkata and Salt Lake.

Reacting to this, Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim said, “Such statements are not befitting of a Union minister. He sounds like a terrorist. Our first identity is that we are Indians. Real Hindus follow the spirit of secularism. His allegations are baseless. The borders are guarded by BSF (Border Security Force) which is under the Centre.”

Vigil along the Bengal-Bangladesh border was tightened last year amid reports of alleged attacks on the minority Hindu community and the arrest of Bangladesh-based Iskcon monk on sedition charges. BSF is setting up barbed fences along unguarded parts of the border.

Over 30 illegal immigrants, including three Rohingyas from Myanmar, have been arrested in Bengal since December last year. To be sure, illegal migration from Bangladesh happens through all border states including BJP ruled Assam and Tripura apart from TMC ruled West Bengal.

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