New Delhi: During his first visit to West Bengal after the BJP lost the majority of Lok Sabha seats it contested in the state, Union home minister Amit Shah claimed that “infiltration from Bangladesh” was disrupting peace in Bengal.
“Bring change to Bengal in 2026 (when Assembly polls are due)…(A BJP-led state government) will end infiltration and ensure peace in the state,” said Shah, reported The Telegraph.
“When there is no opportunity for legal (trans-border) movement of people… illegitimate methods of movement arise, which impacts the peace of the nation.… There can be peace in Bengal only after infiltration stops,” Shah added.
Earlier, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, Shah had compared Bangladeshi immigrants to “termites” and had claimed that the BJP will win 35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
However, despite its polarising narrative, the saffron party could win only 12 seats, lesser than its 2019 tally of 18 seats.
Shah made the comments on Sunday (October 27) at Petrapole, which is a port on the Bangladesh border, where the Union home minister inaugurated a new passenger terminal and a cargo gate.
In September this year, Bangladesh had lodged a protest note with India over comments made by Shah regarding Bangladeshi nationals during a rally in Jharkhand.
Shah had accused the Hemant Soren government of allowing migrants – whom he called “infiltrators” – to take over the state at a rally in Shahganj. Jharkhand is set to hold assembly elections later this year.
“Infiltrators are the vote bank of Lalu Prasad’s RJD [Rashtriya Janata Dal], Rahul baba‘s [Rahul Gandhi] Congress and chief minister Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. I promise to drive out illegal immigrants. The time has come to show the corrupt JMM dispensation the exit door…We want to change Jharkhand,” he had said.
Top BJP leaders have often been accused of using the “infiltration” narrative before elections for polarisation.
At a rally in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that the population of Hindus and Adivasis is declining and that of “Bangladeshi infiltrators” is increasing under the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government.
Jharkhand is slated to go for assembly polls later this year.