Kolkata, Nov 4 (IANS) Amit Malviya, Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell Chief and party’s central observer for West Bengal, on Tuesday, criticised Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for taking out a rally against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state and described it as “Ghuspathiya bachao yatra”.

In an X post, Malviya wrote, “GHUSPATHIYA BACHAO YATRA — that’s what Mamata Banerjee is leading today. Like Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav, this is a desperate attempt to save her illegal vote bank. Between 2001 and now, West Bengal’s population has risen by 31 per cent, but the number of voters has shot up by 67 per cent. Where did these extra voters come from?”

The BJP leader’s remarks came after Chief Minister Banerjee led a protest rally in Kolkata, opposing SIR of Bengal’s electoral rolls which began on Tuesday with BLOs conducting door-to-door visits to distribute enumeration forms.

Intensifying his attack against the Trinamool Congress, Malviya said, “Ironically, Mamata Banerjee herself once stood at the forefront of clashes with the CPI-M, accusing them of manipulating voter lists — stuffing them with names of the dead, the migrated, illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, and those who would vote under cadre pressure. She was once the face of the fight for a clean electoral roll.”

The BJP leader claimed that in those days, Mamata Banerjee even protested against illegal infiltrators and demanded strict border security.

“But today, she blocks the Centre’s efforts to fence the open border — allowing unchecked illegal immigration that is changing Bengal’s demography forever,” he said.

Malviya alleged that Chief Minister Banerjee is out to protect her vote-bank with Tuesday’s rally.

“By launching this so-called protest, Mamata Banerjee is not protecting the interests of indigenous Bangla-speaking Indian Musalmans — she is pandering to illegal Urdu-speaking Bangladeshi infiltrators who now dominate Bengal’s crime syndicates, woman trafficking, and have become her party’s captive vote bank,” he said.

The BJP leader added that Chief Minister Banerjee’s march on Tuesday eerily resembles the “Long March” of Maulana Bhasani, who once demanded that India’s entire North East and West Bengal be ceded to East Pakistan — now Bangladesh.

“Mamata Banerjee knows that once the voter list is cleaned, the fake votes that propped her up will vanish, and the people of Bengal will hold her to account. But Bengal is not hers to destroy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malviya also took a jibe at CM Banerjee for allegedly making an offensive remark while delivering a speech at the end of her rally.

“Today, Mamata Banerjee crossed the line with an extremely offensive remark while defending alleged illegal Bangladeshi Muslims. This isn’t the first time she has insulted Bhagwan Ram or Maa Durga from the stage — it has now become ingrained in her very nature,” he said in another X post.

The BJP leader added, “It’s never a slip of the tongue; she does it deliberately and cunningly every time to consolidate her only vote bank.”

–IANS

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