Kolkata, Nov 2 (IANS) Housemaids in certain pockets of a particular district of West Bengal, who are reportedly illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, have started disappearing suddenly after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in the state was announced last week.

BJP’s Information Technology Cell Chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, in a social media post on Sunday, claimed that there had been reports of several domestic helpers across Birati, Bisharpara, and surrounding areas in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal suddenly disappearing after SIR had been announced.

“One such woman, known as Rahima’s mother, who had worked in Birati for over 25 years, disappeared right after the SIR declaration. When locals made inquiries, they discovered — she had fled to Bangladesh!” Malviya said in the social media post, quoting a vernacular news channel report.

According to him, similar reports of disappearing domestic helpers have come from different households in the same district, with some of them, before leaving, even admitting that they were returning to Bangladesh and would come back only after things would settle down.

Malviya said that the development proves that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank is on the run with this unusual situation surfacing.

“Just think — for years, the CPM and Trinamool governments provided shelter and even political patronage to these illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators on Bengal’s soil. Now, as the SIR process begins, they are packing their bags. Because this time, Mamata Banerjee won’t be able to protect them. They have no place in India — and certainly not on its voter list,” Malviya added.

Since the beginning, the BJP had been claiming that the reason why the Trinamool Congress was opposing the SIR so vehemently was their fear that the names of their dedicated voter bank of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators would be deleted from the voter list.

On the other hand, Trinamool Congress claimed that SIR was a ploy of the BJP and the Union Government to slap the NRC in West Bengal.

Last week, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, announced SIR for 12 Indian states, including West Bengal. The first stage of the three-stage revision exercise will start in West Bengal on November 4.

–IANS

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