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Shah attack Bengal CM over infiltration; Mamata hits back with remarks on SIR
Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal over infiltration
Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal over infiltration, alleging that the demography of the state was changing dangerously and asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party will win a two-thirds majority in next year’s assembly polls.
Hours later, chief minister Mamata Banerjee hit back, blaming the Centre for terrorism and infiltration and demanding Shah’s resignation over the special intensive revision of voter rolls.
“BSF will not be able to secure the border till it is fenced. To install fences, BSF will require land. I wrote seven letters to Mamata Banerjee. In the last six years, the Union home secretary came down (to Kolkata) to meet the state’s chief secretary. I would like to ask the TMC-government, why they are scared of providing land? Don’t you have any responsibility or do you want the infiltration to continue?” Shah asked.
“Where do the infiltrators go after crossing the border? Who is helping them to make the documents? The West Bengal government is making the documents. When illegal immigrants are arrested from across the country, fake documents, made in West Bengal, are recovered from them. In a bid to secure the vote bank, they have allowed infiltration as a policy of the state government. That’s why the TMC will not be able to stop infiltration. Bengal’s demography is changing dangerously. It is a matter of concern for the future,” Shah added.
The minister is scheduled to hold a series of meetings over the next two days to take stock of the party’s preparations for the 2026 elections.
Banerjee, just half-an-hour later, refuted the charges, saying that her government gave enough land for installing fences.
“These are all lies. If infiltration is taking place only though Bengal and there is nothing in Kashmir, then did you orchestrate the Pahalgam attack? Did you plan the Delhi blast?” she asked in Bankura.
She also hit out at the SIR, a contentious exercise that has already seen 5.82 million names dropped from the draft rolls. “The SIR is a big scam. The corrupt home minister must resign. Else the people of India will dethrone you,” Banerjee said.
In Kolkata, Shah held a closed-door meeting with senior leaders at the BJP office.
“When I am saying that the BJP will come to power in 2026, we have a strong foundation for this. In 2016 assembly elections, we received 10% votes and bagged three seats. In just five years, our vote share increased to 38% and we got 77 seats in the 2021 elections. I have full faith that in 2026, the BJP will form the government in West Bengal with two-thirds majority,” Shah said.
He targeted Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee. “During Mamata Banerjee regime syndicate, extortion and cut-money (bribe) have got a boost. Only one person has the right to earn money and that is Bhaipo (nephew). No one else has the right to earn. He has to be given a share of everything,” he said.
“Youth employment, women’s security, infiltration, corruption, deteriorating infrastructure – there are multiple issues. Mamata Banerjee won’t be able to escape,” added Shah.
In her rally, Banerjee reminded Shah how the BJP set a target of 200 seats in the 2021 assembly elections but failed to cross the 100-mark.
“How many will it be this time? Today, Dushyashan babu has said that they will secure two-thirds majority. Now they can’t say any more ‘iss baar 200 paar’. Bengal will show the way how to democratically out the BJP,” she added, referring to Shah as Dushyashan.
The chief minister also said that a “wonderful game” would be played in the coming elections. “Fatafati khela hobe,” she said.
