Excluded Voters will be Sent to Detention Camps, Says West Bengal BJP MP

New Delhi: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member has claimed that Union home minister Amit Shah ordered the establishment of detention camps for those removed from voter rolls, prompting the BJP's West Bengal state unit to dissociate from his remarks.

Addressing a meeting at Adabari in Cooch Behar’s Dinhata, Ananta Roy (Maharaj) alleged that individuals deleted from the electoral lists would be confined to these camps, The Times of India reported. 

"The Union home minister has ordered detention camps. People whose names will be deleted will be kept there. Then they will ask you to prove your origin," Roy said.

Also read: West Bengal Suspends Hearings for ‘Unmapped’ Voters Amid Roll Deletion Concerns

He further claimed that "we have been living here" and questioned the necessity of proving one's origin. Roy also stated that Union government's social welfare schemes would be frozen for disenfranchised voters.

As a video of Roy making the statement went viral, the BJP’s West Bengal unit distanced itself from his comments on Sunday. State party president Samik Bhattacharya mentioned that he was unaware of the context in which Roy spoke.

"I do not know what prompted him to think like that. Our central leaders will take a decision on his comment," Bhattacharya said.

Reacting to the development, Cooch Behar Trinamool Congress chairperson Girindranath Barman said that as Roy is a BJP MP, it is the prime minister's responsibility to address the matter.

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