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Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee has accused the BJP government at the Centre of conspiring against the country’s bona fide citizens by deleting their names from the electoral rolls under the pretext of the SIR exercise.
Canvassing for TMC candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy at a rally in Jalpaiguri district’s Dhupguri, he also charged the saffron party with indulging in politics on the basis of religion and diverting people’s attention from core issues of livelihood and housing.
“The BJP government at the Centre is conspiring against the bona fide citizens of the country. In the name of SIR, those living here for a hundred years are being forced to give proof of their citizenship.
“Even elderly people are being asked to stand in queues for hours, just to see their names either deleted (from the electoral rolls) or under adjudication,” the TMC national general secretary alleged.
Banerjee, considered number 2 in the TMC hierarchy, claimed that people belonging to indigenous communities are being asked to furnish proof of their citizenship in BJP-ruled Assam.
“The BJP is doing whatever they want. But we won’t allow them to commit such atrocities on the public. This country belongs to everyone. This battle is to protect the soil of Bengal,” he said.
Criticism of Union Home Minister
At another meeting in Kalchini, Banerjee held Union Home Minister Amit Shah responsible for “failing to protect the lives of 26 tourists last year (at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir).”
He asked why Shah or Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not resign over the tragedy, as terrorists from across the border came and sprayed bullets on civilians without being detected by the security forces.
