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Roopa Ganguly leads BJP charge in Odisha, will address pro-CAA rally in Nabarangpur
Nine months after Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured Bengali refugees of Nabarangpur district that his party will introduce National Register of Citizens (NRC),
Nine months after Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured Bengali refugees of Nabarangpur district that his party will introduce National Register of Citizens (NRC), BJP MP Roopa Ganguly is scheduled to address a rally in the district today to canvass suuport for Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC.
In April last year, while addressing a poll rally at Umerkote block of Nabarangpur district, Shah had promised that all the Bengali-speaking people living as refugees in Odisha will be conferred India’s citizenship and they will enjoy all the rights of an Indian citizen. “Our party, if voted back to power, will not let the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh refugees leave the country. They can live here with dignity and respect like other citizens of the country,” he had said.
Umerkote, where Shah addressed the rally, is home to several thousands of Bengali-speaking refugees families.
BJP sources said Ganguly would fly in a chopper to Raighar block of Nabarangpur in the afternoon where she will address a public meeting of over 5000 people, mostly Bengali refugees in the Raighar mini stadium. Ganguly’s visit is part of BJP’s strategy to garner nationwide support for the CAA that has triggered massive protest all over the country with governments of at last three non BJP-ruled states passing resolutions against it. Last week, party general secretary Ram Madhav had come to Bhubaneswar to speak at a meet of intellectuals.
“Roopa Ganguly had visited Nabarangpur during the polls and enjoys quite a lot of popularity among the Bengali refugees here due to her role in Mahabharat as Draupadi. She is also a firebrand speaker. Her speech in support of CAA and NRC would appeal to all the Bengali families here,” said Nityananda Gond, BJP’s tribal MLA from Umerkote.
In the 60s, thousands of Bengali refugees settled in Raighar, Umerkote and Jharigaon blocks of Nabarangpur district, then part of the erstwhile Dandakaranya reserve forest, and were provided with 0.4 acres of homestead land and seven acres of agricultural land each. These Hindu Bangladeshis (mostly Scheduled Castes from Bangladesh) were rehabilitated in 65 villages as refugees under the Dandakaranya project.
After the CAA came into force early this month, there is much jubiliation over the new act. “We had voted for BJP in the Assembly election this year after Union Home Minister Amit Shah had promised at an election rally about bringing the Citizenship Amendment Act. We are feeling very happy that the Modi government has kept its promise. Now we have no apprehensions about our citizenship,” said Sibnath Banerjee, former president of Nabarangour zilla parishad.
