BJP for deporting 10m from India's Bengal

Following a move to exclude 4 million people from list of citizens in India's Assam state, a ruling party leader said 10 million 'illegal immigrants' would be kicked out from Bengal, Kolkata-based English language newspaper The Telegraph reported.

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP’s) Bengal president Dilip Ghosh called the people his party would target, if voted to power in Bengal, as 'Bangladeshi immigrants', according to the newspaper report published on Tuesday.

He was quoted to have said that tough times are ahead for those who he said are Bangladeshi immigrants and asked them to pack their bags and get ready to leave India.

The BJP leader reportedly vowed to conduct an Assam-like exercise in Bengal to "throw out by the scruff of the neck" the 'Bangladeshi immigrants', should the BJP come to power in the state.

"If we come to power in Bengal, we will carry out an NRC update in the state too and throw out more than one crore Bangladeshi immigrants by the scruff of the neck and those supporting their cause. Tough times are ahead, pack your bags and get ready to leave India," the report quoted Dilip Ghosh as telling a public meeting in Nadia's Bethuadahari.

Accordingf to the report, the BJP's national general-secretary, Kailash Vijayvargiya, accused Bengal chief minister Mamata Banarjee of robbing Bengal's youth of employment opportunities by allegedly allowing 'Bangladeshi infiltrators' to settle in the state.

"Bangladeshi criminals are operating rackets from Bengal. They settled here and are involved in terrorist activities. They have become permanent residents in Bengal, rendering the youth here unemployed. It is unfortunate that our permanent residents have no jobs here because Bangladeshis are taking away their jobs... All because Bangladeshis are now Mamata Banerjee's vote-bank. Should we allow Bangladeshi infiltrators to stay here?" Vijayvargiya was quoted as saying.

"Such infiltration is a big problem for the rest of us. But if Mamata Banerjee continues to provide shelter to the infiltrators, the youths will never forgive her," he reportedly added.

The report said Trinamul general-secretary and urban development minister Firhad Hakim said the BJP's vow to replicate the Assam exercise in Bengal would remain a pipe dream as people would never vote it to power.

The leader of the opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Abdul Mannan of the Congress, and Left legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty, too, condemned the BJP's statements, the report added.