BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Suvendu Adhikari. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
As the Trinamool Congress stepped up its campaign over the reported attacks on Bengali migrant workers in other States, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intensified its rhetoric on “Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators”, with Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Suvendu Adhikari announcing that he would take to the streets to demand a “Bengali Hindu homeland”.
“I will take to the streets after August 15 to demand a West Bengal free of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi infiltrators, as was imagined by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee as the Bengali Hindu homeland,” Mr. Adhikari told local media persons on Saturday (July 26, 2025).
Reiterating his demand for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in West Bengal, on the lines of a similar exercise in Bihar, the BJP MLA alleged that several Muslim families in the State had married Bangladeshi Muslim women they met on social media, who were subsequently issued “false Aadhar and EPIC cards” by the State government.
“Many of these Bangladeshi women stayed back with or without visas thanks to Mamata not fencing 540 km of our border. If 50 lakh voters are dropped in Bihar, 1 crore 25 lakh Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingyas will get dropped in West Bengal,” Mr. Adhikari said.
Domicile certificates
Mr. Adhikari also alleged that the State government had directed district authorities to issue large numbers of domicile certificates. He said he would write to the Chief Election Commissioner of India, requesting that any certificates issued after July 26 not be accepted.
“The Chief Minister’s Office of West Bengal directed district magistrates and sub-divisional officers yesterday to issue large numbers of domicile certificates for the districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Malda, North and South Dinajpur and Cooch Behar. They are distributing domicile certificates to Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims,” Mr. Adhikari alleged.
He further claimed that 75,000 Bangladeshi Muslims across eight border districts had been issued Form 6 (application for inclusion in the electoral roll). “I am warning district authorities of dire consequences if during their door-to-door voter surveys, they accept domicile certificates issued from today, July 26,” the BJP leader said.
Published – July 26, 2025 08:47 pm IST
