CM Banerjee says ‘scrap PM’s visa’ after Modi’s Matua temple visit in Bangladesh
PM Modi, who is on a two-day trip to Bangladesh, met the Matua community members at Orakandi in Gopalganj where their most sacred temple is located.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dalit Matua community’s most sacred temple at Orakandi in Bangladesh on Saturday created a stir in West Bengal amid the first-phase assembly polls. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the PM violated the election code of conduct by wooing a community that is important in the local elections. His visa and passport should be scrapped, she demanded.
Banerjee, while addressing a rally in West Midnapore district, cited the example of Bangladeshi movie star Ferdous Ahmed whose visa was cancelled by the Ministry of Home Affairs for attending a Trinamool Congress (TMC) rally at Raigunj in north Bengal before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He was blacklisted too.
Modi, who is on a two-day trip to Bangladesh, met the Matua community members at Orakandi in Gopalganj where their most sacred temple is located. He said he received great affection from the community in West Bengal, especially from Binapani Devi, the community’s head who died in 2019, during his visit to the Matua headquarters at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district.
The Matuas are part of the larger Dalit Namasudra community. Originally from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), most of the Namasudras came to India during the partition and after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 to escape religious persecution. The Namasudras can influence the results of the ongoing elections in around 80 of Bengal’s 294 seats. In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wrested two Lok Sabha seats where the Namasudras are present in large numbers. The party won 18 of the state’s 42 seats that year.
“I was waiting for this opportunity for many years. When I visited Bangladesh in 2015, I had expressed my desire to visit Orakandi,” Modi said in his speech on Saturday and announced that India will upgrade one middle school and set up a primary school in Orakandi.
A couple of hours later, Banerjee flared up at her rally in Kharagpur town.
“When elections are on, he (Modi) has gone to Bangladesh and making a speech on West Bengal. This is totally a violation of the election code of conduct. Law cannot be discriminative. A film star named Ferdous came here during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He went to one of our rallies to express his best wishes. The BJP moved the Bangladesh government. The Indian government cancelled his visa so that he cannot come here anymore,” she said.
“You scrap a Bangladeshi actor’s visa for attending a rally. What action is being taken when a Prime Minister is visiting a foreign country after the polls are notified and talking about people who matter in the elections here? You went to the US and held a meeting in support of Trump. Your visa and passport were not cancelled. When elections are on you have gone to Bangladeshi to tell lies to a certain section of people for votes. Why shouldn’t your visa and passport be cancelled?” said Banerjee.
“We will complain to the Election Commission of India. How can a foreign country play a role in the internal matters of another country? Rules apply to us but not to you. What has Bangladesh got to do with elections in Kharagpur? Sometimes you allege that Mamata has brought all the infiltrators from Bangladesh and now you have gone to Bangladesh to market yourself. Who is right and who is wrong? We will go to any extent to get an answer,” said Banerjee.
In April 2019, The Union home ministry cancelled the visa of Ahmed who triggered a controversy after being seen campaigning for TMC candidate from Raiganj, Kanaia Lal Agarwal, in north Bengal. He was asked to leave India for violating visa norms. The actor was also blacklisted which barred him from applying for an Indian visa in the future.
The People’s Representative Act 1951, which governs how elections are conducted in India, does not expressly deal with foreign nationals campaigning for a party but visa rules forbid foreigners from participating in political activities in India. Ahmed was in India on a business visa.
Reacting to Banerjee’s allegation, BJP’s Bengal unit vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said, “The chief minister needs to study law. Ahmed violated Indian law while the Prime Minister is visiting Bangladesh to strengthen bilateral relations. He did not violate any law by addressing the Matua community.”
In 2019, the BJP wrested the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat in North 24 Parganas by fielding Binapani Devi’s grandson Shantanu Thakur against his aunt and the then sitting TMC MP Mamata Bala Thakur. The BJP also won the Ranaghat seat in Nadia where the Hindu Dalit community comprises a sizeable section of the population.
In his Orakandi speech, Modi referred to Shantanu Thakur who has demanded immediate implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in West Bengal. The BJP has promised in its Bengal election manifesto but has remained silent on the issue in Assam where polls are also being held.
Kolkata based professor of economics and political analyst Sarthak Roychaudhury said, “Modi’s Bangladesh visit is a strategic one. While he could have easily visited the famous Kali temple in Dhaka, he went to the Jashoreshwari temple which has an old connection with the Matua community. Also, he talked of participating in a struggle in support of the Bangladesh Liberation War. It seems he wants to strengthen ties with Bangladesh in view of the situation in Myanmar, the Rohingya problem and India’s relation with China.”
