The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh on Saturday criticised the Centre, saying it is wrong and inhumane to label all Bengali-speaking people as Bangladeshis. He said many Indian citizens speak Bengali and live across different states, and questioned how poor people could be expected to show birth certificates.
Ghosh blamed the Central government for failing to stop infiltration at the border.
Addressing media reporters, Gosh said, "It cannot be that all Bangla-speaking people are Bangladeshi. We are also residents of West Bengal and speak the Bengali language... Similarly, those who are Bengali and Indian citizens may be living in other states or may have gone there for work."
He added, "But declaring them Bangladeshi based on language and deporting them to Bangladesh is inhumane.... How can a poor person have their father's or mother's birth certificate?... It is your (central government) responsibility to provide security at the border. If infiltrators are entering the country, then it is your failure..."
Meanwhile, earlier today, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi condemned the detention of Bengali-speaking Muslim citizens across the country, labelling them as "illegal" while accusing the police administration of "targeting" them since they couldn't challenge "police atrocities".
He said that those being labelled as illegal immigrants are "the poorest of the poor", who are mostly slum-dwellers, and work as domestic workers and rag-pickers. Owaisi argued that they were being targeted repeatedly because they couldn't challenge "police atrocities."
He stated that there have been reports of Indian citizens being pushed into Bangladesh at gunpoint.
"Police in different parts of India have been illegally detaining Bengali-speaking Muslim citizens and accusing them of being Bangladeshi. There have been disturbing reports of Indian citizens being pushed into Bangladesh at gunpoint. This government acts strong with the weak, and weak with the strong. Most of those who are accused of being 'illegal immigrants' are the poorest of the poor: slum-dwellers, cleaners, domestic workers, rag-pickers, etc. They have been targeted repeatedly because they are not in a position to challenge police atrocities," the AIMIM chief posted on X.
"Police do not have the power to detain people just because they speak a particular language. These wide-net detentions are illegal," Owaisi added as he shared an image of an order of the Office of District Magistrate in Gurugram on his X account where it has been mentioned that the state government have made a standard operating procedure (SOP) to deport Bangladeshi citizens and Rohingyas. (ANI)
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