What stopped BJP from driving out Bangladeshi infiltrators for so long, asks Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Murshidabad, May 29 (IANS) Amid the BJP government’s measures against illegal infiltrators in West Bengal, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday asked, “what stopped the BJP-led Centre from driving out Bangladeshi infiltrators from West Bengal during their three-term regime at the Centre?”

Notably, ever since the BJP came to power in Bengal, the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari-led government has set up ‘holding centres’ in the state for providing temporary accommodation to illegal infiltrators before they are handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF) at its nearest border outposts (BOPs), from where they will be sent back to their own countries.

There has been a huge influx of infiltrators at the Hakimpur border since Tuesday night.

Addressing the media, Chowdhury acknowledged that illegal infiltration has been taking place since decades in the country.

“The government can do anything. We are seeing detention centres in Assam as well. We do not have any data on how many infiltrators were caught or how many were sent back to Bangladesh,” he said.

Maintaining that the government should fulfill what it had promised, he said: “Given the noise surrounding all this, the government should reveal the figures of how many infiltrators have been caught and sent back.”

The Congress leader questioned the Centre on what had been stopping it from taking action against the infiltrators till now.

“Laws have been passed for this, such as the NRC and many others. You people (BJP-led NDA) are the ones running the country for the third term, and even the Prime Minister of the country belongs to your party (BJP). So, who had stopped you for so many days from removing Bangladeshis?,” he said.

However, Chowdhury stressed that the BJP government should look into the facts that how many of the illegal infiltrators are Hindus and Muslims, how many of them are being ‘pushed back’, how many are being legally deported and how many of them has the Bangladeshi government agreed to take back.

While emphasising that not a single infiltrator should stay back in India, he urged the BJP-led Centre to release a White Paper regarding the government’s calculations.

“How many infiltrators are residing in India, should be made public by the government,” he asserted.

–IANS

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When asked about political speculations regarding the Chief Minister’s post in Karnataka, CM Siddaramaiah responded, saying: “What speculations? It’s only media speculations. You are the ones creating speculations; the raising of these questions itself is baseless. Where is the confusion in the party? There is no development as such. There is nothing of this sort going on in the party.”

Regarding Congress Ramanagara MLA Iqbal Hussain’s statement that Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar will become the Chief Minister either on January 6 or January 9, Siddaramaiah said, “They are baseless. Either I should talk about it, or the Deputy CM should speak about it. We are the better persons, and we should know what’s happening. We should talk, right?”

When asked about Deputy CM Shivakumar’s statements on keeping one’s word, Siddaramaiah replied, “Despite the statements, ultimately, the decision of the Congress High Command will prevail. It’s only the media that’s speculating. Has the high command conveyed anything to the MLAs? The high command hasn’t stated anything. Whatever the high command decides will be final. Shivakumar has never made any statement regarding keeping one’s word; it’s all the media’s creation.”

Regarding Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s request for state leaders to resolve the matter regarding the CM’s post within themselves, Siddaramaiah said, “We have spoken to each other. We held breakfast meetings. The state MLAs aren’t talking now, and only the media is speculating.”

Siddaramaiah also mentioned that a special Cabinet meeting has been called, which is an emergency meeting, and the Cabinet Ministers will discuss the matter regarding the CM’s post.

“The state budget will be presented in the first week of March. They (Cabinet Ministers) are planning to hold ‘Sadhana Samavesha’ to mark completing 1,000 days in Haveri, but no final decision has been taken. It’s scheduled for February 13. They are ready to hold local body elections, including taluk panchayat, corporation, Zilla Panchayat, and Bengaluru civic polls.”

Regarding the BJP and JD-S alliance for the upcoming local body polls in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said, “H.D. Kumaraswamy was sick, and now he’s healthy and active. The alliance won’t affect us. BJP and JD-S will put up one candidate. The political contest won’t get polarised. It’s about the votes for the Congress party and votes against the Congress party.”

–IANS

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According to the prosecution, Ankita Bhandari and Pulkit Arya had a dispute over something, after which the man, along with Bhaskar and Gupta, allegedly pushed the woman into the Cheela canal in Rishikesh.

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