Amit Shah Calls Immigrants ‘Termites’, Draws Ire from Bangladesh

The BJP chief in two separate incidents called immigrants from Bangladesh “infiltrators”.

BJP president Amit Shah said on Saturday that Bangladeshi migrants are like “termites”, and each one of them will be struck off the electoral roll.

(Photo: PTI)

BJP President Amit Shah on Monday, 24 September drew flak from Bangladesh after he compared Bangladeshi migrants with “termites”.

On Saturday, referring to the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) recently published in Assam, Shah said that the BJP government will pick out each and every “infiltrator”.

The BJP government brought NRC and prima facie identified nearly 40 lakh illegal immigrants. BJP sarkaar ek ek ghuspaithiye ko chun chun kar matdata suchi se hatane ka kaam karegi. (The BJP will find each one of them and strike him/her off the electoral roll.)

Amit Shah in Rajasthan’s Gangapur

Amit Shah’s Comment Unwanted: Bangaldesh

Bangladesh, in its response, said the BJP chief’s comments were “not proper” and “unwanted”. In a statement to NDTV, Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said:

“Amit Shah has made an unwanted remark by describing Bangladeshis as termites. The comment is not proper.” 

The information minister further said that the government did not give any importance to Shah’s comments as it was not an official statement.

“There is an information gap. I hope he knows no Bangladeshis are staying in India. All Bangla-speaking people living in India are not Bangladeshis. We do not give any importance to his statement as it is not an official Indian government version.”

Hasanul Haq Inu, Bangladesh Information Minister, as quoted by NDTV

To The Hindu, Inu said that the BJP chief was perhaps unaware of the official dialogue between India and Bangladesh regarding the NRC.

“Rajnath Singh, Minister of Home Affairs of India, as well as Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla, based in Dhaka, have assured us that the NRC process of Assam is an internal issue of India – and that not a single Bengali-speaking person will be sent to Bangladesh.” 

Amit Shah Repeats Remark Against Migrants

After Rajasthan, Shah repeated his statement against migrants on Sunday, 23 September at a rally in New Delhi. He said his party will seek to identify illegal immigrants living in the country if it comes to power after the Lok Sabha polls.

Shah said that illegal infiltrators are causing trouble in the national capital, and likened them to termites, action against whom should not worry any patriot.

Shah further alleged that Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal care for them for vote bank politics.

(With inputs from PTI, NDTV)