BJP IT Cell Chief, Amit Malviya, has levelled serious allegations against the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and its leaders in the state, accusing them of trying to discredit the widow of one of the victims of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Malviya, the family of Bitan Adhikari, one of the 26 victims killed in the attack, along with local TMC leaders, has been allegedly attempting to disown his wife, Sohini Adhikari, by branding her a Bangladeshi national. This, Malviya claims, is being done to take away her late husband's compensation and the proceeds from a fundraiser being held in the US.
Taking to microblogging site X, Malviya, also the BJP's Bengal co-incharge, writes, "This is the ugly underbelly of Mamata Banerjee and her party in West Bengal".
The BJP leader's allegations center on what he describes as a deliberate campaign to undermine Sohini Adhikari’s credibility, which, according to him, is being fanned by malicious stories planted in the media to garner attention from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Malviya, in his post on X, suggests that Sohini, a Hindu woman, might be a Bangladeshi national who migrated to Kolkata to study. This, he further argues, is common among the large number of Hindu Bangladeshis who crossed over from East Pakistan/Bangladesh before and after the 1971 war. These individuals, he points out, often acquired Indian documentation, a practice that could now be scrutinised due to issues related to citizenship and documentation.
He elaborates, ".....her family may have acquired Indian documentation — a common practice among the lakhs of Hindu Bangladeshis who crossed over from East Pakistan/Bangladesh before and after 1971".
Explaining further, the BJP Bengal co-incharge connected the situation to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), stating that the law was enacted to address the issues of religious persecution faced by minorities, particularly Hindus, from neighbouring Islamic nations. He suggested that Sohini's situation highlights why the CAA is a necessity, as it seeks to provide refuge to people fleeing persecution, whose legal documentation might now be questioned.
"This situation underscores why the CAA was necessary — to address the plight of those fleeing religious persecution from a neighbouring Islamic republic and whose documentation may now be questioned," further explains Malviya.
The BJP leader further pointed out that similar tactics have been used by criminals in the past, citing the example of Sheikh Shahjahan in Sandeshkhali, who allegedly exploited the situation of vulnerable women by threatening them with deportation if they protested his actions.
In his tweet, Malviya also accused Mamata Banerjee's loyalists, such as TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, of being directly involved in the campaign against Sohini Adhikari. The BJP IT Cell chief claims that the TMC's pressure on Bitan Adhikari's elderly parents and brother to discredit his widow is part of a magnified effort to push a narrative that claims dubious Hindu Bangladeshis are aligned with the BJP.
Malviya remarked in his post that this tactic is part of Banerjee's broader strategy to appease her vote bank in the state, using underhanded methods to manipulate public opinion. "This is yet another example of the malicious, underhanded tactics Mamata regularly uses to appease her vote bank".
The Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which claimed the lives of 26 people, has been attributed to Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba’s affiliate, The Resistance Front (TRF). Security has been ramped up in the region, especially with the Amarnath Yatra scheduled to begin shortly after.
Following the attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Saturday, assumed charge of the investigation, which has linked local operatives to cross-border terrorism networks.
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