'I will burn your voice with acid in your mouth': TMC leader slams BJP MLA for calling Bengali migrants 'Bangladeshis'

Abdur Rahim Bakshi

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abdur Rahim Bakshi has threatened to pour acid into the mouth of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA - Shankar Ghosh.

Speaking on Saturday evening while addressing the public that had gathered to protest what TMC said were "atrocities against Bengali-speaking migrant workers" in other Indian states, Bakshi slammed Ghosh without mentioning his name.

He highlighted Ghosh's comments in the West Bengal Assembly, where he described migrant workers from Bengal as "Rohingyas" or "Bangladeshis".

Criticising Ghosh, Bakshi said, "The one who shamelessly says that the 30 lakh migrant workers of Bengal who work outside are not Bengalis... they are Rohingyas, they are Bangladeshis. He shouted this. I said it then and I am saying it today -- if I hear this from you again, I will burn your voice to ashes with acid inside your mouth. You should know that this is West Bengal. We Bengalis will not give you a place to speak. I will burn your face with acid."

He also said that people should "tear down BJP flags" and  to also socially boycott the party in Malda. BJP was quick to react to Bakshi's remarks and accused the TMC of promoting violence.

Khagen Murmu, BJP's Member of Parliament from Malda Uttar, said, "This is the culture of the Trinamool Congress. Their job is to intimidate people. Such statements are happening all the time in Malda now. The district president of TMC often says such things to be in the news. The fear that Trinamool will lose in the next assembly elections is working for them."