New Delhi: A West Bengal MLA is accused of asking TMC employees to make sure that the voters’ list only includes Bangladeshi immigrants who support the state’s dominant political party. The state and the rest of the nation are both working on the draught electoral roll revision. Bardhaman Dakshin MLA Khokan Das is heard saying in an allegedly viral video on social media, “Numerous newcomers are arriving… Their origin is Bangladesh. Many of these individuals support the BJP out of religious sentiments. Please see to it that the voter list is limited to those who support our party.”
On Tuesday evening, the legislator spoke at a public gathering in Bardhaman. The news agency was unable to independently confirm the video’s veracity. According to sources, Das trailed in several wards of Bardhaman town during the 2021 assembly elections, including his own neighbourhood of Kanchannagar-Rathtala, which is predominately home to people of Bangladeshi descent.
However, when the legislator was later asked to clarify his comment, he told reporters, “Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are entering our area every day. I gave a message to TMC workers that their names should not find a place in the voters’ list.”
Reacting to the statement, BJP’s Bardhaman organisational district’s spokesperson Soumyaraj Mukhopadhyay said that instead of doing party politics over the issue, the MLA should inform the Centre and the state government about the illegal immigrants. “This is why we will implement Citizenship (Amendment) Act,” he said.
TMC’s Purba Bardhaman district spokesperson Prasenjit Das claimed that the MLA’s comments were misconstrued and that the BJP has political intentions behind the implementation of CAA.
(With PTI inputs)