New Delhi: A leader who is fast developing a repute for controversial lines, BJP’s West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh said on Sunday that the government is committed to implementing the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens and will send back a crore Bangladeshi Muslims living in the state illegally.
Addressing a series of rallies in the North 24 Parganas district, Ghosh said that those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are anti-Bengalis and against the idea of India.
He said one crore illegal Muslims in the state are “thriving” on the government’s Rs 2 per kg subsidised rice.
“We will send them back,” he announced.
“Why you are behaving in such a way, why are you trying to stop the CAA and the NRC?” he said.
“We are committed to NRC. We will also ensure that the CAA is implemented in West Bengal,” he added.
Ghosh had, on January 13, said protesters should be “shot like dogs.”
Coming down heavily on the Trinamool Congress and the other opposition parties, Ghosh said that when “lungi-clad Rohingya” were setting railway stations and other public properties on fire for three days, they did not speak out.
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“Such incidents of arson caused a loss of Rs 500-600 crore,” the BJP MP said, referring to the protests that broke out in the state after parliament cleared the CAA in December last year.
He said that he has no qualms in being branded communal for supporting the cause of Hindu refugees, who had to “run for their lives” after being religiously persecuted.
Ironically, the Rohingya community Ghosh highlighted as terrorists are also one which is being religiously persecuted.
“Those who are opposing the CAA are either anti-India or anti-Bengali. They are against the idea of India that is why they are opposing Hindu refugees getting citizenship,” Ghosh said.
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He said the BJP was the first party which thought of granting citizenship to refugees after coming to power, while all other parties had only used them as vote bank.
Continuing his tirade against eminent personalities, opposing the CAA and the proposed nationwide NRC, he said their “hearts bleed for infiltrators”.
“What about Hindu refugees? They don’t have any answers. This is a double standard,” Ghosh said, days after terming them “parasites”.
Exuding confidence about forming the next government in West Bengal, the BJP leader said Mamata Banerjee’s party will be restricted to 50 seats in the 2021 state polls.
The Trinamool Congress, reacting to Ghosh’s comments, said the BJP is living in a “fool’s paradise”.
“They are yet to understand that people of India have turned away their face from Narendra Modi-Amit Shah’s party,” said TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee.
(With PTI inputs)