We Are Not Anti-Bengal, But Anti-Mamata: Amit Shah in Kolkata

Amit Shah addresses a rally in Kolkata.

(Photo: ANI screengrab)

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah held a rally in Kolkata on Saturday, 11 August, amid clear indications from his party leaders that they will make the alleged presence of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in West Bengal a poll issue and seek an Assam-like NRC for the state.

Shah's rally underscored his intention to make the NRC a major poll issue in Mamata Banerjee's state.

Taking a jibe at the ‘BJP Go Back’ posters put out by the TMC cadres, Shah said, “How can we be against Bengal when our party was founded by a Bengali?”

He further added that no matter how hard Banerjee tries to stop the NRC, “we are totally committed to it.”

I wish to ask Mamata ji, why is Mamata Banerjee protecting Bangladeshi infiltrators? In 2005, Bangladeshi infiltrators used to vote for the Communist Party. Mamata ji disrupted the Lok Sabha and threw papers on the Speaker and chanted slogans against the Bangladeshi infiltrators. Today, those infiltrators are TMC’s vote bank. Mamata ji wants to now keep them in the country. She, along with Rahul Gandhi, should clarify if the country is more important to them or  vote-bank politics? For us, the country comes before the vote bank. Oppose us as much as you want but we will not stall the process of the NRC.

Amit Shah, BJP President

He lashed out at Banerjee, stating, “If we don’t stop the illegal immigration, then Bengal won’t be safe. The only way to achieve that is the NRC. That’s why I ask my brothers and sisters to support the NRC.”

Shah added that during the TMC’s tenure, there has been no development in Bengal – only guns and bomb factories have increased.

“We not only want change in Bengal, we want to uproot the TMC from West Bengal,” he said.

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