Kolkata, July 17: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Thursday, indirectly blamed the BJP of carrying out a fake propaganda of illegal Rohingya infiltration in the state to strike out the names of genuine voters in the state from the voters’ list.
“Rohingyas are from Myanmar. How can they be in West Bengal? Still, false propaganda is being carried out by certain vested interests that there are lakhs of illegal Rohingya infiltrators in West Bengal. They are doing this to strike out the names of genuine voters in the state from the voters’ list. I challenge them to provide us with the addresses where these Rohingya infiltrators are hiding,” the Chief Minister said while addressing the inauguration programme of twin housing projects at New Town in the northern outskirts of Kolkata on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, she also became vocal about the selective harassment of Bengali-speaking people, especially migrant workers from West Bengal, in other states, especially the BJP-ruled states.
“Remember, these workers from West Bengal are accommodated in other states out of generosity. They are accommodated there since they are especially skilled. So we cannot tolerate their selective harassment in other states. Remember, over 1.5 crore migrant workers from other states are residing in West Bengal. They never face such harassment here,” the Chief Minister said.
According to her, those who resort to selective harassment of Bengali-speaking people are not aware that Bengali is the second most-spoken language in Asia and the fifth most-spoken language in the world. “I have great regard for other languages. I myself speak, read, and write in a number of languages. Any Indian citizen has the right to stay at any place in India, and they have the right to speak in any language,” the Chief Minister said.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister also subtly touched upon the event of the Indian government giving political asylum to the former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. “There might be some political or diplomatic reason for giving shelter to anyone from a neighbouring country. I did not say anything on this issue,” the CM said.
IANS