Kolkata: Braving rains, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday held a protest march from College Square to Dorina crossing at Esplanade against ‘harassment’ on Bengalis migrant workers in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states.
Several senior TMC leaders including party’s national secretary Abhishek Banerjee also joined the march which was nearly 3-km-long and was wrapped in security, with nearly 1,500 police personnel guarding the barricaded pavements and adjacent buildings.
Addressing the gathering, Mamata said that she is ‘ashamed’ and ‘disappointed’ over the attitude of BJP towards Bengalis.
“Those who have gone to work in other states have not gone on their own. They have skills for which they were called. Rohingyas lives in Myanmar. Those whom BJP is terming as Bangladeshis are citizens of Bengal with proper ID proofs. There are 22 lakh migrant workers. I appeal to them to return home. They are safe here. Isn’t Bengal part of India? Why is the BJP arresting anyone who is speaking in Bengal and sending them to detention camps?” questioned Mamata.
Taking further potshots, the TMC Supremo stated that through revision of the voter list it is a ‘backdoor attempt to implement NRC’.
“I respect the chair of the Election Commissioner. But we all know BJP has sent their people to EC. I will speak more Bengali now and let them put me in a detention camp. We respect every language. We will fight against the notification which the central government had silently given to all BJP ruled states,” further mentioned the West Bengal Chief Minister.
Mamata also slammed the Ministry of Home Affairs for not ‘tightening’ the borders through BSF.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari visited the Election Commission office urging to delete the names of Rohinga Muslims from the voter list of Bengal.
Adhikari also urged CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal to conduct a house-to-house survey to ensure that the voter list is free from infiltrators.
“The ‘Bengali Ashmita’ as flaunted by Mamata’s protest march is to save the Rohingya Muslims whose names are there in Bengal’s voter list. We are not against any religion who are Indians. Bengal has become a hub of fake Aadhaar cards, false birthday certificates and EPIC cards. Mamata Banerjee is not bothered about change in demography but is bothered about the voter list. West Bengal government is not giving land to BSF for tightening the security further,” added Adhikari.
TMC leader and former union minister Babul Supriyo said, “I know what is CAA and NRC as I was in BJP when it was introduced. I support the protest of our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.”
