PM Modi terms Mamata's opposition to SIR ploy to protect infiltrators: 'Law will punish those who entered India illegally'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Bengal's Durgapur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) for encouraging infiltration in West Bengal and said that "this is a big threat to the state and country".

Addressing a public rally at West Bengal's Durgapur, PM Modi said, "For its own benefit, the TMC government has put the identity of West Bengal at stake. Infiltration is being encouraged in the state. Fake documents are being made for the infiltrators. An entire ecosystem has been developed. This is a big threat to West Bengal and the country... In the politics of appeasement, TMC is crossing all limits...Action will be taken against those who are not citizens of the nation..."

Mamata Banerjee had earlier accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of "acting like a stooge of the BJP" and wondered if the implementation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll was a "backdoor attempt to implement the National Register of Citizens".

Also Read: PM Modi raises Kolkata rape cases: 'Even hospitals unsafe for women in West Bengal'

Assembly polls in Bengal are due next year and the poll body has decided to conduct a Special Intensive Revision of voter lists in the state. Such a revision is currently being done in Bihar. Banerjee has alleged that this is part of a conspiracy to delete the names of valid voters, especially the migrants and the underprivileged.

A few days back, the Bengal CM also took out a march in rain-soaked Kolkata to protest the alleged harassment of Bengali speakers in BJP-ruled states. Accusing the BJP-led central and state governments of targeting Bengali migrants, she said Bengal fought for India's freedom, and BJP should be ashamed.

Countering this claim, PM Modi in Durgapur said, "Wherever there is BJP government, Bengalis are respected." In addition to this, he alleged that the Mamata Banerjee-led government cannot protect the lives of the people of West Bengal.

"You all have seen how, when a young doctor was subjected to atrocities here, the TMC government got involved in protecting the culprits. The country hadn’t even recovered from that incident when, in another college, a horrific crime was committed against another young woman. In that case too, the accused were found to have links with the TMC..." said PM Modi.

He was referring to the 2024 RG Kar Medical rape and murder case and the recent Kolkata law college gang-rape case.

(With inputs from agencies)